BL  535 

.S6 

Sneath, 

Elias 

Hershey, 

1857- 

1935, 

Religion  and 

the 

future 

life 

Religion  and  the 
Future  Life 


The  Development  of  the  Belief  in  Life  After  Death. 
By  Authorities  in  the  History  of  Religions 


EDITED  BY 
E.  HERSHEY  SNEATH,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D. 

Professor  of  the  Philosophy  of  Reli^on  and  Religious 
Education^  Yale  University 


New  York  Chicago 

Fleming    H.    Revell     Company 

London       and       Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1922,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New  York :  1 58  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  17  North  Wabash  Ave. 
London  :  2 1  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:       75     Princes     Street 


Preface 

DURING  the  academic  year  of  1920-1921  the 
undersigned  conducted  a  seminar  in  Yale 
University  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the 
history  of  belief  in  life  after  death  in  religion  and 
philosophy.  He  was  most  fortunate  in  securing  emi- 
nent specialists  in  the  history  of  religions  to  contribute 
papers — nearly  all  of  which  were  read  before  its  mem- 
bers by  the  writers  themselves.  Because  of  the  per- 
petual interest  in  this  important  problem,  it  seemed 
very  desirable  that  these  valuable  essays  should  be 
shared  by  an  intelligent  public;  and  the  editor  asked 
their  authors  to  prepare  them  for  publication  in  the 
form  of  a  composite  volume.  This  they  very  kindly 
consented  to  do  and  the  result  is  the  present  volume. 
The  undersigned's  contribution  to  the  seminar  dealt 
with  the  idea  of  the  future  life  as  developed  in  the  his- 
tory of  philosophy.  It  will  appear  in  a  volume  to  be 
published  later. 

Since  the  preparation  of  these  essays  one  of  the 
contributors, — Professor  Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania, — ^has  entered  "  the  Great 
Beyond.''  His  death  is  a  serious  loss  to  American 
scholarship. 

E.  Hershey  Sneath. 
Yale  University, 


Contents 

I.  The  Idea  of  the  Future  Life  Among 

Primitive  Tribes 9 

Franz  Boas,  Ph.  D.,  Sc.  D.,  LL.D.,  Professor 
of  Anthropology,  Columbia  University. 

II.  Ancient    Egyptian    Ideas   of  the   Life 

Hereafter 27 

James  Henry  Breasted,  Ph.D..  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Egyptology  and  Oriental  History, 
University  of  Chicago. 

III.  Immortality  in  India        ....      65 

E.  Washburn  Hopkins,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Sanskrit  ^  and  Comparative  Phi- 
lology, Yale  University. 

IV.  Immortality  Among  the  Babylonians  and 

Assyrians 90 

Morris  Jastrow,  Jr.,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor 
of  Semitic  Languages,  University  of  Penn- 
sylvania. 

V.  The    Ancient    Persian    Doctrine  of  a 

Future  Life 121 

A.  V.  Williams  Jackson,  Ph.D.,  L.H.D., 
LL.D.,  Professor  of  Indo-Iranian  Lan- 
guages, Columbia  University. 

VI.  Immortality  in  the  Hebrew  Religion     .     141 

Lewis  Bayles  Paton,  Ph.D.,  D.D.,  Professor 
of  Old  Testament  Exegesis  and  Criticism, 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary. 

VII.  Immortality  in  Greek  Religion       .        .     164 

Arthur  Fairbanks,  Ph.D.,  Litt.  D.,  Director  of 
the  Boston  Museum  of  Fine  Arts  and  for- 
merly Professor  of  Greek  and  Greek  Archae- 
ology, University  of  Michigan. 

7 


8  CONTENTS 

VIII.  Immortality  in  the  Synoptic  Gospels      .     193 

Benjamin  Wisner  Bacon,  D.D.,  Litt.  D., 
LL.  D.,  Professor  of  New  Testament  Criti- 
cism and  Exegesis,  Yale  University. 

IX.  Paul's  Belief  in  Life  After  Death         .     225 

Frank  Chamberlin  Porter,  Ph.D.,  D.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Biblical  Theology,  Yale  University. 

X.  Immortality  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  .     259 

Benjamin  Wisner  Bacon,  D.D.,  Litt.  D., 
LL.D.,  Professor  of  New  Testament  Criti- 
cism and  Exegesis,  Yale  University. 

XI.  Immortality  in  Mohammedanism       .         .     295 

Duncan  Black  MacDonald,  M.A.,  D.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Semitic  Languages,  Hartford  The- 
ological Seminary. 

XII.  Life  After  Death 321 

E.  Hershey  Siie:ith,  Ph.D.,  LL.D.,  Professor 
of  the  Philosophy  of  Religion  and  Religious 
Education,  Yale  University. 


THE  IDEA  OF  THE  FUTURE  LIFE  AMONG 

PRIMITIVE  TRIBES 

Franz  Boas 

AMONG  the  many  attempts  that  have  been  made 
to  describe  and  explain  the  origin  and  devel- 
opment of  the  concepts  of  soul  and  immor- 
tality the  one  made  by  Edward  B.  Tylor  in  his 
"  Primitive  Culture  "  is  most  exhaustive  and  carefully 
thought  out.  Although  since  the  publication  of  his 
work,  much  new  evidence  has  been  accumulated,  the 
new  data  may  well  be  fitted  into  his  general  treatment 
of  the  subject. 

We  are,  however,  no  longer  quite  ready  to  accept 
his  interpretation  of  the  material  which  he  has  so  as- 
siduously collected  and  marshalled  in  logical  order. 
To  him  the  ideas  by  which  primitive  man  expresses 
his  sense  experience  are  a  result  of  speculative  thought, 
of  reasoning  that  leads  to  a  consistent  view  of  the 
world.  These  thoughts,  being  determined  by  the  gen- 
eral state  of  cultural  life,  lead  to  concepts  which  nat- 
urally develop  one  from  the  other  and  represent  a 
typical  series  which  arises  regardless  of  race  and  of 
historical  affiliations.  It  is  true  that,  sometimes,  he 
sets  aside  the  latter  point  of  view  and  recognizes 
specific  forms  of  thought  which  belong  to  various 
cultural  groups,  such  as  the  Indo-Europeans  on  the 
one  hand,  the  Semites  on  the  other,  but  these  ap- 


10  RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

preaches  to  a  historical  treatment  are  entirely  subor- 
dinated to  the  general  evolutional  viewpoint  in  which 
certain  cultural  types  appear  as  belonging  to  the  evo- 
lutionary stages  of  primitive,  barbaric  or  civilized 
society. 

We  are,  at  present,  more  inclined  to  consider  the 
growth  of  ideas,  not  as  a  result  of  rational  processes, 
but  rather  as  an  involuntary  growth,  and  their  inter- 
pretation as  the  outcome  of  rationalization  when,  to- 
gether with  correlated  action,  they  rise  into  conscious- 
ness. We  recognize  that  the  rationalizing  interpreta- 
tion of  an  idea  does  not  by  any  means  necessarily  rep- 
resent its  historical  growth,  and  that  a  classification 
of  ideas  from  a  definite  viewpoint,  beginning  with 
those  that  seem  to  be  simple  and  proceeding  to  those 
that  seem  complex,  cannot  without  further  proof  be 
interpreted  as  historical  sequence,  but  may  give  an 
entirely  distorted  picture  of  historical  happenings. 

We  may  trace  the  development  of  the  concepts 
"  soul ''  and  "  immortality  "  in  the  history  of  Europe 
and  of  other  countries  in  which  historical  data  are 
available,  but  the  attempt  to  give  an  historical  inter- 
pretation for  people  without  recorded  history  is  liable 
to  lead  to  quite  fallacious  results  if  based  on  nothing 
else  than  a  classification  of  data  according  to  their 
complexity. 

Nevertheless,  the  problem  that  Tylor  set  to  himself 
remains.  There  are  decided  similarities  in  the  views 
held  regarding  "soul"  and  "immortality"  among 
peoples  that  in  measurable  time  cannot  have  had  any 
historical  connection.  There  is,  however,  danger  of 
overlooking,  on  account  of  a  general  resemblance,  sig- 
nificant dissimilarities  which  may  have  value  from  a 
historical  point  of  view.  It  is  unavoidable  that  we 
should  base  our  considerations,  as  Tylor  did,  on  the 


FUTURE  LIFE  AMONG  PEIMITIVE  TRIBES    11 

data  of  individual  psychology  and  that  we  should  try 
to  understand  how,  in  a  given  cultural  setting,  man 
may  be  led  to  form  certain  concepts.  In  following 
out  this  method,  we  should,  however,  take  into  con- 
sideration the  effects  of  secondary  rationalization  and 
the  historical  facts  that  may  have  influenced  the  ways 
by  which  simple  ideas  grew  into  complex  dogma. 

From  this  point  of  view  Tylor's  treatment  appears 
to  us  as  too  schematic.  He  does  not  take  into  con- 
sideration the  multifarious  mental  conditions  that  may 
lead  to  the  concepts  "  soul "  and  ''  immortality,"  but 
he  selects  a  few  and  bases  his  conclusions  upon  their 
general  applicability.  Now  and  then  he  does  mention 
the  possibility  of  alternative  mental  states  that  might 
lead  to  similar  results,  only  to  revert  to  his  main  ex- 
planation. 

The  difference  in  point  of  view  appears  most  clearly 
in  Tylor's  summing  up  of  his  explanation  of  the  occur- 
rence of  the  belief  in  multiple  souls:'  *' Terms  corre- 
sponding with  those  of  life,  mind,  soul,  spirit,  ghost, 
and  so  forth,  are  not  thought  of  as  describing  really 
separate  entities,  so  much  as  the  several  forms  and 
functions  of  one  individual  being.  Thus  the  confusion 
which  prevails  in  our  own  thought  and  language,  in  a 
manner  typical  of  the  thought  and  language  of  man- 
kind in  general,  is  in  fact  due  not  merely  to  vagueness 
of  terms,  but  to  an  ancient  theory  of  substantial  unity 
which  underlies  them." 

We  are  inclined  to  take  for  our  starting  point  pre- 
cisely the  opposite  point  of  view. 

The  unconscious  growth  of  concepts  is  expressed 
nowhere  more  clearly  than  in  language.  In  many  lan- 
guages we  find  the  tendency  to  conceptualize  a  quality, 

*  Edward  B.  Tylor,  "Primitive  Culture,"  lyondon,  1891,  Vol.  I, 
p.  435- 


12         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

a  condition,  or  even  an  habitual  action,  which  then 
appears  in  the  form  of  a  noun.  It  is  not  by  any  means 
necessary  that  the  occurrence  of  such  concepts  must 
lead  to  an  imaginative  process  by  means  of  which  they 
are  given  concrete  form,  but  it  gives  ready  opportunity 
for  such  development.  We  still  feel  the  force  in  the 
use  of  metaphorical  expressions  which  are  based  on  the 
concrete  form  given  to  a  term  that  from  a  logical  point 
of  view,  is  of  attributive  character.  These  metaphors 
may  be  modern  or  based  on  ancient  patterns. 

It  is  noticeable  that  particularly  the  states  and  func- 
tions of  physical  and  mental  life  do  not  appear  to 
primitive  man  as  qualities,  conditions  or  actions,  but  as 
definite  concepts  which  tend  to  take  on  concrete  form. 
Even  in  modern  science  we  are  still  struggling  with  the 
confusion  between  substance  and  attribute  in  the  analy- 
sis of  such  concepts  as  matter  and  energy. 

We  do  not  mean  to  imply  by  this  that  mythology,  as 
Max  Miiller  states,  is  "  a  disease  of  language,"  that  all 
mythological  concepts  originate  from  misinterpreted  or 
reinterpreted  linguistic  forms,  we  rather  mean  that  the 
formation  of  concepts  is  not  the  same  in  all  languages 
and  that  in  particular,  the  grouping  of  what  is  sub- 
stance and  what  attribute,  is  not  always  made  in  the 
same  way,  and  that  many  attributes  are  conceived  as 
substance.  It  does  not  seem  plausible  that  linguistic 
form  should  be  subsequent  to  the  conscious  conceptual- 
ization of  an  attribute  as  a  substance.  The  two  must 
rather  be  considered  as  concomitant  and  interdependent 
phenomena.  It  is  quite  conceivable  that  where  the 
tendency  to  objectivation  of  attributes  prevails,  later 
on  the  transformation  of  other  attributes  into  objects 
may  follow  by  analogy,  but  the  primary  basis  cannot  be 
considered  in  any  way  as  due  to  a  conscious  classifica- 
tion,— just  as  little  as  the  classification  of  the  spectrum 


PUTTJEE  LIFE  AMONG  PRIMITIVE  TRIBES    13 

into  a  limited  number  of  fundamental  colour  terms  can 
be  due  to  conscious  conceptualization  of  a  number  of 
selected  colours. 

On  the  basis  of  these  considerations  we  interpret  the 
fact  that  many  manifestations  of  life  take  concrete 
forms  as  an  effect  of  the  tendency  to  conceive  certain 
classes  of  attributes  as  substances.  In  modern  lan- 
guages terms  like  hunger,  courage,  love,  sin,  conscious- 
ness, death,  are  either  owing  to  traditional  usage  or  to 
poetic  imagination,  endowed  with  qualities,  even  with 
concrete  forms. 

The  more  distinctly  a  quality  is  conceived  as  a  con- 
crete substance,  the  less  will  its  existence  be  bound  up 
with  the  object  possessing  the  quality  in  question.  If 
success  in  hunting  is  conceived  as  a  substance  that  may 
associate  itself  with  a  person,  it  will  exist  independ- 
ently of  the  person  who  may  acquire  it  or  lose  it  and 
after  his  death  it  will  continue  to  exist  as  it  existed 
before  its  acquisition.  When  a  sin  is  conceived  as  a 
substance,  as  is  done  by  the  Eskimo,  it  has  an  inde- 
pendent existence.  It  attaches  itself  to  a  person ;  it  may 
be  separated  from  the  sinner,  and  continue  to  exist 
until  attached  to  some  other  person.  They  are  no 
longer  qualities  that  die  with  the  individual  to  whom 
they  belong.  Sickness  is  often  conceived  not  as  a  con- 
dition of  the  body,  but  as  an  extraneous  object  that 
may  enter  the  body  of  a  person  and  may  be  extracted 
again,  or  that  may  be  thrown  into  it.  This  foreign 
substance  that  acts  upon  the  living  being  may  be  as 
permanent  in  its  existence  as  the  earth,  the  heavens  and 
the  waters. 

In  all  these  cases  there  is  no  integral  association  be- 
tween the  object  and  its  bbjectivated  quality.  Each 
leads  an  independent  existence.  The  quality  of  the  ex- 
pert hunter,  or  the  faculty  of  the  shaman  may  be  con- 


14         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

ceived  as  objects  or  as  personalities  that  assist  the  man 
with  whom  they  are  associated.  They  are  different 
from  his  own  personahty  and  we  designate  them  as 
magical  objects  or  as  helping  spirits. 

There  is,  however,  another  group  of  qualities  con- 
sidered as  substances  which  are  most  intimately  con- 
nected with  human  life  and  without  which  a  person  is 
not  a  complete  living  being.  Life,  power  of  action, 
personality  belong  to  this  group.  Wherever  they  oc- 
cur in  one  form  or  another  we  designate  them  as 
"soul."  The  soul  represents  the  objectivated  quali- 
ties which  constitute  either  the  ideal  human  being  or 
the  individual  personality.  A  study  of  the  terms 
which  are  ordinarily  translated  as  "  soul "  shows 
clearly  that  the  equivalents  in  primitive  tongues  repre- 
sent a  variety  of  qualities  of  living  man,  and  that  their 
meaning  varies  accordingly. 

Often  the  term  *'  life  "  corresponds  to  what  we  call 
"soul."  Thus  the  Chinook  Indian  of  Northwest 
America  says  that  when  "  life  "  leaves  the  body  man 
must  die,  and  that  if  it  is  returned  to  the  body,  he  will 
recover.  "  Life  "  is  an  objectivation  of  all  that  differ- 
entiates the  living  person  from  the  dead  body.  It 
leads  a  separate  existence  and,  therefore,  continues  to 
exist  after  death. 

"  Life "  itself  is  not  always  conceived  as  a  unit. 
When  a  paralyzed  arm  or  leg  has  lost  its  power  of  mo- 
tion, its  separate  "  life  "  has  gone,  but  the  person  con- 
tinues to  live  as  long  as  the  "  great  life  "  that  belongs 
to  the  whole  body  stays  with  him.  It  is  not  by  any 
means  necessary  that  the  "  life  "  should  be  conceived 
in  anthropomorphic  fonn;  it  is  sometimes  considered 
as  an  object  or  as  an  animal  such  as  a  butterfly. 
As  long  as  it  stays  in  the  body,  its  owner  is  alive ;  when 
it  leaves,  he  dies;  when  it  is  hurt,  he  sickens. 


FUTURE  LIFE  AMONG  PEIMITIVE  TRIBES    15 

In  a  wider  sense  the  power  to  act,  the  will  power,  is 
classified  not  as  a  function  of  the  living  body,  but  as 
something  substantial,  of  independent  existence.  We 
might  call  it  the  personality  separated  from  the  person. 
In  a  way  it  is  another  form  under  which  life  is  con- 
ceptualized. On  account  of  its  closer  association  with 
the  form  of  living  man,  it  is  very  liable  to  appear  in 
anthropomorphic  form. 

There  is  no  sharp  line  that  separates  this  concept 
from  the  products  of  imagery,  in  so  far  as  these  are 
not  understood  as  functions  of  mental  life,  but  as  in- 
dependent objects.  Tylor  and  others  have  discussed 
fully  and  adequately  the  effects  of  the  products  of  im- 
agination, of  dreams  and  of  trance  experiences  in 
which  man  finds  his  body  in  one  place  while  his  mind 
visits  distant  persons  and  sees  distant  scenes,  or  when 
he  finds  conversely  distant  scenes  and  persons  appear- 
ing before  his  mental  eye.  These  are  based  on  mem- 
ory images  which  attain  at  times  unusual  intensity. 
Not  by  a  logical  process,  but  by  the  natural  and  invol- 
untary process  of  classification  of  experience,  man  is 
led  to  the  concept  of  the  objective  existence  of  the 
memory-image.  Its  formation  is  due  to  the  experi- 
ences of  visual  and  auditory  imagery. 

We  may  recognize  the  objectivation  of  life  and  of 
the  memory-image  as  the  principal  sources  from  which 
the  manifold  forms  of  soul  concepts  spring.  As  the 
life-soul  may  vary  in  form,  so  the  memory-image  soul 
may  take  varying  forms  according  to  the  particular 
aspect  of  the  personality  that  predominates.  These 
two  concepts  of  the  soul  do  not  remain  isolated,  but  the 
one  always  influences  the  other.  A  detailed  study  of 
their  interrelation  and  of  the  variety  of  meanings  that 
corresponds  to  our  term  "  soul  "  would  require  a  close 
Study  of  the  forms  of  thought  that  have  grown  up  on 


16         EELIGION  AKD  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

this  general  psychological  background,  partly  through 
an  inner  development,  partly  owing  to  diffusion  of 
ideas. 

The  most  important  results  of  these  considerations 
for  our  problem  is  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that 
those  qualities,  conditions,  and  functions  which  we 
combine  under  the  term  "  soul "  are  looked  upon  as 
substances  and  that,  for  this  reason,  body  and  soul  have 
separate  existence  and  their  lives  are  not  encompassed 
in  the  same  space  of  time. 

In  fact,  there  is  probably  not  a  single  primitive  peo- 
ple that  holds  rigidly  to  the  belief  that  the  existence  of 
the  soul  coincides  with  the  actual  span  of  life  of  the 
individual.  The  soul  may  be  considered  as  existing 
before  the  birth  of  its  owner  and  it  may  continue  to 
exist  after  his  death.  However,  the  idea  of  immor- 
tality, of  a  continued  existence  without  beginning  in  the 
past  and  without  end  in  the  future  is  not  necessarily 
implied  in  these  beliefs. 

Preexistence  is  necessarily  connected  with  the  idea. 
of  rebirth!  It  is  another  expression  of  the  primitive 
mythological  thought  which  assumes  that  nothing  has  a 
beginning,  that  there  is  no  creation  of  anything  new, 
but  that  everything  came  into  being  by  transforma- 
tions. The  animals,  plants,  striking  features  of  the 
landscape  are  commonly  accounted  for  as  due  to  the 
transformation  of  human  being  into  new  forms. 
Thus  also  the  birth  of  a  child  is  accounted  for  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  tranformation  of  a  preexisting  being.  If 
the  Eskimo  believe  that  children,  like  eggs,  live  in  the 
snow  and  crawl  into  the  mother's  womb,  if  some 
Australian  tribes  believe  that  a  totem  or  ancestral  spirit 
enters  the  mother's  body,  if  some  Indian  tribes  of 
America  believe  that  salmon  may  be  reborn  as  children, 
or  that  a  deceased  person  may  come  back  to  be  borne 


FUTUEE  LIFE  AMONG  PEIMITIYE  TEIBES    17 

again  by  a  woman  of  his  own  family,  this  is  not  neces- 
sarily due  to  a  complete  lack  of  knowledge  of  the 
physiological  process  of  conception,  but  should  rather 
be  interpreted  as  a  particular  aspect  of  the  concept  of 
"  life  "  or  "  soul,"  as  independent  of  bodily  existence. 
This  appears  very  clearly  in  the  case  of  the  Eskimo 
who  misinterpret  sexual  intercourse  as  intended  to  feed 
the  child  that  has  entered  the  mother's  womb.  These 
ideas  are  presumably  analogous  to  the  ideas  surviving 
in  our  folk-lore  in  which  children  are  presented  as  pre- 
existing. The  belief  in  transmigration  shows  most 
clearly  that  we  are  dealing  here  with  the  soul  which 
exists  before  the  birth  of  the  child. 

The  term  "  immortality  "  is,  however,  applied  more 
specifically  to  life  after  death.  We  have  pointed  out 
before  that  the  visualization  of  the  form  of  a  person 
due  to  imagery  is  one  of  the  principal  sources  of  the 
concept  of  "  soul."  This  form  survives  after  the 
death  of  the  individual  as  his  memory-image.  For 
this  very  reason  the  image-soul  cannot  possibly  die 
with  the  death  of  the  person,  but  will  survive  at  least 
as  long  as  his  friends  survive.  The  importance  of  the 
recollection  of  a  person  for  the  future  life  of  the  soul 
is  brought  out  in  the  beliefs  of  many  Bantu  tribes  of 
Africa.  Thus  among  the  Vandau,  the  soul  of  a  person 
who  is  remembered  will  be  kindly  disposed  toward 
his  friends.  When  the  deceased  is  forgotten,  his  soul 
becomes  a  malignant  being  that  is  feared  and  must  be 
driven  away. 

The  memory-image  is  intangible,  it  arises  suddenly 
and  vanishes  again  when  the  calls  of  every-day  life 
repress  imaginative  thought.  It  partakes  of  all  the 
features  of  the  departed  and  even  his  voice  may  dimly 
sound  in  the  imagination  of  the  surviving  friend.  In 
memory  the  departed  will  appear  as  he  was  known  in 


18         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

life,  in  his  usual  dress  and  engaged  in  his  usual  occu- 
pations so  that  with  his  image  appear  also  his  prop- 
erty that  he  used  in  his  lifetime.  The  inanimate  prop- 
erty partakes  in  a  peculiar  way  in  the  continued  exist- 
ence of  the  memory-image  even  after  the  objects  have 
been  destroyed.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  assume  with 
Tylor,  that  the  belief  in  this  continued  existence  of 
proprietary  objects  is  due  to  an  animistic  belief.  In 
many  cases  it  may  be  based  merely  on  the  continued 
existence  of  the  memory-image. 

The  importance  of  the  memory-image  in  the  for- 
mation of  the  soul  concept  is  nowhere  clearer  than  in 
those  cases  in  which  the  dead  one  is  believed  to  con- 
tinue to  exist  in  the  land  of  souls  in  the  same  condi- 
tion in  which  he  was  at  the  time  of  death.  When  the 
aging  Chukchee  demands  to  be  killed  before  he  is  in- 
firm and  unable  to  withstand  the  hardships  of  life,  he 
acts  under  the  assumption  that  his  soul  will  continue 
in  the  same  condition  in  which  he  finds  himself  at  the 
time  of  death.  Whether  or  not  this  is  the  historical 
source  of  the  custom  is  irrelevant  for  its  modern 
interpretation  by  the  Chukchee.  In  the  same  way  the 
belief  of  the  Eskimo  that  a  person  who  dies  of  old 
age  or  of  a  lingering  illness  will  be  unhappy  in  future 
life,  while  he  who  is  suddenly  taken  away  in  full  vig- 
our, as  a  man  who  dies  a  violent  death  or  a  woman  who 
dies  in  childbirth,  will  be  strong  and  happy  in  future 
life  is  expressive  of  the  memory-image  that  the  de- 
ceased leaves  in  the  minds  of  his  survivors. 

If  the  belief  in  continued  existence  is  based  on  the 
persistence  of  the  objectivated  memory-image,  it 
might  be  inferred  that  there  should  be  a  widespread 
belief  of  the  death  of  the  soul  at  the  time  when  all 
those  who  knew  the  deceased  are  dead  and  gone.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  indications  of  a  belief  in  a 


FTJTUEE  LIFE  AMONG  PEIMITIYE  TEIBES  "19 

second  death  that  conform  with  this  idea,  but  in  the 
majority  of  cases  the  soul  is  beheved  to  be  immortal. 
There  are  a  considerable  number  of  cases  in  which  the 
second  death  of  a  soul  is  described,  but  most  of  these 
are  not  of  a  character  that  may  easily  be  reduced  to 
the  fact  that  the  deceased  is  forgotten.  They  seem 
rather  to  be  due  to  the  imaginative  elaboration  of  the 
continued  life  of  the  soul  which  is  necessarily  thought 
to  be  analogous  to  our  own  life  and  in  which,  there- 
fore, death  is  a  natural  incident. 

It  does  not  seem  difficult  to  understand  why  the 
objectivation  of  the  memory-image  should  lead  to  the 
belief  in  immortality  rather  than  in  a  limited  existence 
after  death.  To  the  surviving  friend  the  memory- 
image  is  a  substance  and  he  will  talk  of  it  as  having 
permanent  existence.  It  will,  therefore,  be  assimied 
by  his  friends  who  may  not  have  known  the  deceased, 
in  the  same  way,  and  will  continue  to  exist  in  their 
minds  in  the  same  way  as  all  other  qualities  that  are, 
according  to  the  views  held  by  their  society,  conceived 
as  substances. 

Knowledge  of  the  presence  and  actual  decomposi- 
tion of  the  body  and  the  long  preservation  of  the  skele- 
ton is  the  source  of  a  number  of  other  concepts  that 
are  related  to  the  idea  of  immortality.  When  we 
speak  of  ghosts,  we  are  apt  to  think  more  of  the  dis- 
embodied souls  which  wait  to  be  redeemed,  than  of 
the  skeletal  remains  that  are  thought  to  be  endowed 
with  life.  Nevertheless  we  find,  every  now  and  then, 
that  the  ghost  is  not  described  as  the  transparent  or 
vaporous  apparition  of  the  memory-image,  but  as  bear- 
ing the  features  of  a  skeleton,  often  with  grotesque 
additions  of  luminous  orbits  and  nasal  aperture.  In 
this  form  the  ghost  is,  of  course,  not  the  memory- 
image  of  the  living,  but  a  concept  representing  the  re- 


20  EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

mains  of  the  dead  body  endowed  with  life.  For  this 
reason  it  happens  often,  that  these  *'  immortals  "  are 
not  individualized,  but  are  conceived  as  very  imper- 
sonal beings  who  may  wage  war  among  themselves, 
or  against  man,  who  may  waylay  the  unwary  and  who 
form  a  hostile  tribe  of  foreigners,  as  though  they  were 
ordinary  living  beings,  but  endowed  with  unusual  pow- 
ers. The  lack  of  individuality  of  this  type  of  ghost 
appears  very  clearly  among  many  American  tribes, 
while  the  idea  does  not  seem  to  prevail  in  Africa.  We 
can  hardly  .consider  these  ghosts  as  immortal  souls, 
because  they  lack  completely  individuality. 

Nevertheless  there  arises  at  times  confusion  between 
the  two  concepts.  The  ghosts  have  their  village  or 
villages  and  often,  when  the  soul, — in  the  sense  of 
life  and  memory-images, — of  the  departed  leaves  the 
body,  it  is  said  to  go  to  the  village  of  the  ghosts  where 
it  meets  previously  departed  friends  and  many  per- 
sons whom  it  does  not  know, — those  who  died  long 
ago.  This  contradiction  is  not  surprising,  because 
there  are  many  associative  bonds  between  the  two 
groups  of  ideas,  so  that  the  one  calls  forth  the  other 
and  a  sharp  line  between  the  two  concepts  is,  there- 
fore, not  established. 

It  is  most  important,  for  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  questions  with  which  we  are  dealing  and  of  simi- 
lar problems,  that  we  must  not  expect  a  consistent 
system  of  beliefs  in  primitive  thought.  We  must  re- 
member that  concepts  originating  from  different  prin- 
ciples of  unconscious  classification  must  overlap,  and 
that  for  this  reason,  if  for  no  other,  the  same  concept 
may  belong  to  conflicting  categories.  Only  when  con- 
scious rationalization  sets  in  and  a  standardization  of 
beliefs  develops  may  some  of  these  conflicting  or  even 
contradictory  views  be  harmonized. 


FUTUKE  LIFE  AMONG  PEIMITIVE  TEIBES    21 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  best  not  to  include  in  the 
idea  of  immortality  of  the  soul,  the  idea  of  separate 
existence  which  is  attached  to  the  acquaintance  with 
the  decomposing  body  and  the  relative  permanence 
of  the  skeleton,  just  as  little  as  we  can  consider  the 
permanence  and  separate  existence  of  objectivated 
spiritual  powers,  such  as  skill  and  success  as  immortal 
souls.  They  appear  to  us  rather  as  helpful  spiritual 
beings  or  objects. 

The  fundamental  differences  between  the  various 
forms  of  the  soul  concept  and  between  the  feelings 
and  thoughts  that  lead  to  the  assumption  of  a  separate 
existence  of  the  soul  are  the  source  also  of  many  con- 
flicting views  regarding  the  abode  of  the  soul  before 
birth,  during  life  and  after  death.  Except  in  the  cases 
of  a  well-developed  belief  in  transmigration,  there  is 
no  clear  and  well-developed  idea  of  the  places  and  con- 
ditions in  which  souls  exist  before  birth.  Even  when 
they  are  believed  to  be  returned  ancestors,  there  does 
not  seem  to  be  a  well-defined  belief  regarding  the  mode 
of  life  of  a  preexisting  soul.  This  may  be  due  to  the 
lack  of  congruity  between  the  behaviour  of  the  new- 
bom  infant  and  the  memory-image  which  is  ordinarily 
associated  with  the  full-grown  person.  This  makes 
it  difficult  to  bridge  the  gap  between  the  existence  of 
the  soul  and  the  birth  of  the  child. 

During  life,  more  particularly  during  healthy  life, 
the  seat  of  the  soul  is  conceived  to  be  in  the  body,  or 
at  least,  closely  associated  with  the  body.  Quite  often 
the  concepts  of  the  relations  between  body  and  soul 
lack  in  clearness.  The  distinction  between  a  spiritual 
helper  or  a  protecting  object  and  the  "  soul ''  shows, 
however,  very  clearly  that  the  former  is  thought  of 
as  existing  apart  from  the  body,  while  the  latter  is 
closely  associated  with  it.     We  pointed  out  before, 


22         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

that  we  find  in  both  groups  conceptuaHzed  attributes, 
but  that  the  former  are  less  firmly  connected  with  the 
fundamental  phenomena  of  life.  In  many  cases,  the 
*'  life-soul "  is  believed  to  permeate  the  whole  body, 
or  the  special  part  of  the  body  to  which  it  belongs. 
When  the  soul  is  considered  as  an  object,  it  may  be 
thought  to  be  located  in  some  vital  part,  as  in  the  nape 
of  the  neck;  or,  still  more  commonly,  it  is  identified 
with  those  functions  of  the  body  that  cease  with  death, 
such  as  the  breath,  the  flowing  blood,  or  the  moving 
eye.  So  far  as  these  are  visible  and  tangible  objects 
of  temporary  existence,  they  are  considered  the  seat 
of  the  "life-soul"  during  life,  rather  than  as  the 
"life-soul"  itself.  However,  the  latter  always  re- 
mains the  objectivation  of  the  functions  of  life. 

The  concept  of  the  memory-image  soul  leads  to 
different  beliefs  in  regard  to  its  localization.  Its  es- 
sential feature  is  that  it  is  a  fleeting  image  of  the  per- 
sonality and  that,  for  this  reason,  it  is  identical  in 
form  with  the  person.  Shadows  and  reflections  on 
water  partake  of  these  unsubstantial,  fleeting  charac- 
teristics of  the  image  of  the  person.  Probably  for  this 
reason  they  are  often  identified  with  the  memory-im- 
age soul.  There  are,  however,  also  mixed  concepts,  as 
that  of  a  "  Hfe-soul "  which,  after  leaving  the  body, 
appear  in  the  form  of  its  owner,  but  of  diminutive 
size. 

Much  clearer  than  the  idea  of  localization  of  the 
preexisting  soul  and  of  the  soul  of  the  living  are  those 
relating  to  the  conditions  of  the  souls  after  death.  In 
imaginative  stories,  the  details  of  life  after  death  are 
often  elaborated.  They  are  confirmed  and  further  em- 
bellished by  the  reports  of  people  who,  in  a  trance,  be- 
lieve they  have  visited  the  country  of  the  souls. 

The  presence  of  the  bodily  remains,  the  departure 


FUTURE  LIFE  AMONG  PRIMITIVE  TRIBES    23 

of  life,  and  the  persistence  of  the  memory-image  lead 
to  many  conflicting  views  which  have  certainly  helped 
in  the  development  of  the  belief  in  multiple  souls. 
While  the  idea  of  a  life-soul  combined  with  the  belief 
in  a  continued  existence  of  the  personality,  creates 
readily  the  formation  of  the  concepts  of  a  distant  coun- 
try of  the  dead,  the  memory-image  based  on  the  remem- 
brance of  the  daily  intercourse  of  the  deceased  with 
his  survivors  and  the  presence  of  his  tangible  grave 
lead  rather  to  the  belief  in  the  continued  presence  of 
the  soul.  In  the  conflicting  tendencies  which  are  thus 
established,  and  in  the  elaboration  of  detail  which  is 
necessarily  involved  in  tales  regarding  future  life,  his- 
torical diffusion  plays  a  much  more  important  part 
than  in  the  formation  of  the  mere  concepts  of  soul 
and  immortality,  and  it  would  be  quite  impossible  to 
understand  the  multifarious  forms  of  description  of 
the  land  of  the  dead  without  taking  into  consideration 
the  actual  interrelations  between  tribes.  An  attempt 
at  a  purely  psychological  analysis  would  be  quite  mis- 
leading. We  find,  for  instance,  in  Africa  a  wide- 
spread idea  of  sacred  groves  in  which  ancestral  souls 
reside;  this  must  be  taken  as  a  result  of  historical 
adaptation,  not  as  the  necessary  development  of 
psychological  causes  that  lead  to  the  same  result  any- 
where,— in  the  same  way,  as  the  characteristic  belief 
in  the  different  behaviour  of  remembered  and  forgot- 
ten ancestral  souls  which  is  common  to  many  South 
African  tribes,  must  be  due  to  historical  assimilation. 
This  is  proved  by  the  definite  localization  of  these  be- 
liefs in  well-circumscribed  areas. 

Nevertheless  a  number  of  features  may  be  recog- 
nized which  are  of  remarkably  wide  distribution  and 
for  which,  therefore,  a  common  psychological  cause 
may  be  sought. 


24         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

The  belief  in  a  temporary  presence  of  the  soul  in 
or  near  the  place  of  death  is  quite  common  and  may 
be  based  on  the  condition  of  mind  which  prevails  until 
the  survivors  have  adapted  themselves  to  the  absence 
of  the  deceased.  It  may  be  interpreted  as  the  objecti- 
vation  of  the  haunting  consciousness  of  his  previous 
presence  in  all  the  little  acts  of  every-day  life,  and  in 
the  feeling  that  he  ought  still  to  be  present.  As  this 
feeling  wears  down,  he  departs  to  the  land  of  the 
souls.  In  the  same  way  the  difficulty  of  separating  the 
dead  body  from  the  remembrance  of  the  body  in  ac- 
tion may  be  the  cause  of  the  belief  that  the  soul  hovers 
for  some  time  around  the  grave,  to  leave  only  when 
the  body  begins  to  decompose. 

The  ideas  relating  to  the  permanent  abode  of  the 
souls  are  not  easily  interpreted,  largely  on  account  of 
their  complex  mythological  character  which  requires  a 
detailed  historical  investigation.  Nevertheless  there 
are  a  few  general  features  that  are  so  widely  dis- 
tributed that  they  may  be  briefly  touched  upon.  Gen- 
erally the  village  of  the  dead  is  thought  to  be  very  far 
away,  at  the  western  confines  of  our  world  where  the 
sun  and  moon  disappear,  below  the  ground  or  in  the 
sky,  and  difficult  to  reach.  Among  the  obstacles  in  the 
way,  we  find  particularly  a  river  that  must  be  crossed 
by  the  soul,  or  dangerous  passages  over  chasms.  It 
is  but  natural  that  the  souls  should  be  conceived  as 
living  in  the  same  way  as  human  beings  do.  The  ex- 
periences of  primitive  man  give  no  other  basis  for  his 
imagination  to  work  on.  Their  occupations  are  the 
same,  they  hunt,  eat  and  drink,  play  and  dance.  A 
living  person  who  takes  part  in  their  dally  life,  par- 
ticularly If  he  taste  of  their  food,  cannot  return  to  the 
land  of  the  living.  The  objects  which  the  immortal 
souls  use  are  also  immortal,  but  they  appear  to  the 


FUTUKE  LIFE  AMONG  PEBIITIVE  TRIBES    25 

living  as  old  and  useless,  often  in  the  form  in  which 
they  are  disposed  of  at  the  funeral  ceremonies.  Not- 
withstanding the  identity  of  the  social  life  of  the  dead 
and  of  the  living,  there  is  a  consciousness  that  things 
cannot  be  the  same  there  as  here  and  this  thought  is 
given  expression  in  the  belief  that  everything  there  is 
the  opposite  of  what  it  is  here.  When  we  have  winter, 
it  is  summer  there,  when  we  sleep,  the  souls  of  the 
dead  are  awake. 

We  cannot  enter  Into  the  great  variety  of  beliefs 
regarding  the  land  of  the  souls  without  overstepping 
the  bounds  of  a  socio-psychological  discussion. 

The  belief  in  a  number  of  different  countries  of  the 
dead,  however,  requires  brief  mention.  We  are  ac- 
customed to  think  of  these  distinctions  from  an  ethical 
point  of  view,  of  heaven  for  the  souls  of  the  good,  of 
hell  for  the  souls  of  the  bad.  It  is  doubtful  whether 
in  primitive  life  this  concept  ever  exists.  The  differ- 
ence in  the  locations  of  the  countries  of  the  dead  and 
of  their  conditions  is  rather  determined  by  the  mem- 
ory-image of  the -person  at  the  time  of  his  death.  The 
strong  and  vigorous  who  live  a  happy  life,  are  as- 
sembled In  one  place — the  weak  and  sickly  at  another 
place.  When  other  principles  of  separation  prevail, 
they  may  be  reduced  to  other  classificatory  concepts. 
In  simple  economic  conditions  the  whole  community 
is  equally  affected  by  favourable  and  unfavourable  con- 
ditions. Among  the  Eskimo,  when  the  weather  Is 
propitious,  the  whole  village  has  enough  food,  and 
every  healthy  person  is  happy.  When,  on  the  other 
hand,  no  game  can  be  obtained  on  account  of  continued 
tempests,  the  whole  village  is  In  distress.  Therefore  a 
conception  of  future  life  in  which  in  the  same  village 
a  considerable  part  of  the  people  are  unhappy,  another 
considerable  part  happy,  does  not  coincide  with  the 


26         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

experience  of  Eskimo  life  and  we  may,  perhaps,  recog- 
nize in  social  conditions  of  this  type  a  cause  that  leads 
to  a  differentiation  of  abodes  of  the  dead. 

In  the  preceding  discussion,  we  have  considered  only 
the  general  socio-psychological  basis  on  which  the  con- 
cepts of  "  soul ''  and  "  immortality  "  have  arisen.  It 
is  necessary  to  repeat,  that  for  a  clear  understanding  of 
the  great  variety  of  forms  which  their  beliefs  take,  the 
historical  relations  between  groups  of  tribes  must  be 
considered,  not  only  of  those  that  are  at  present  in 
close  contact,  but  also  of  those  which  belong  to  larger 
cultural  areas  in  which  intertribal  cultural  influences 
may  belong  to  early  periods. 


II 

ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  OF  THE 

LIFE  HEREAFTER 

James  Henry  Breasted 

AMONG  no  people,  ancient  or  modern,  has  the 
idea  of  a  Hfe  beyond  the  grave  held  so  promi- 
nent a  place  as  among  the  ancient  Egyptians. 
This  insistent  belief  in  a  hereafter  may,  perhaps,  have 
been,  and  experience  in  the  land  of  Egypt  has  led  me 
to  believe  it  was,  greatly  favoured  and  influenced  by 
the  fact  that  the  conditions  of  soil  and  climate  re- 
sulted in  such  a  remarkable  preservation  of  the  human 
body  as  may  be  found  under  natural  conditions,  per- 
haps nowhere  else  in  the  world.  In  going  up  to  the 
daily  task  on  some  neighbouring  temple  in  Nubia,  I 
was  not  infrequently  obliged  to  pass  through  the  cor- 
ner of  a  cemetery,  where  the  feet  of  a  dead  man, 
buried  in  a  shallow  grave,  were  now  uncovered  and 
extended  directly  across  my  path.  They  were  pre- 
cisely like  the  rough  and  calloused  feet  of  the  work- 
men in  our  excavations.  How  old  the  grave  was  I  do 
not  know,  but  any  one  familiar  with  the  cemeteries  of 
Egypt,  ancient  and  modern,  has  found  numerous 
bodies  or  portions  of  bodies  indefinitely  old  which 
seemed  so  well  preserved  as  to  suggest  those  of  the 
living.  This  must  have  been  a  frequent  experience 
of  the  ancient  Egyptian,  and  like  Hamlet  with  the  skull 
of  Yorick  in  his  hands,  he  must  often  have  pondered 

27 


28         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

deeply  as  he  contemplated  these  silent  witnesses.  The 
surprisingly  perfect  state  of  preservation  in  which  he 
found  his  ancestors  whenever  the  digging  of  a  new 
grave  disclosed  them,  must  have  greatly  stimulated  his 
belief  in  their  continued  existence,  and  often  aroused 
his  imagination  to  more  detailed  pictures  of  the  realm 
and  the  life  of  the  mysterious  departed.  The  earliest 
and  simplest  of  these  beliefs  began  at  an  age  so  re- 
mote that  they  have  left  no  trace  in  surviving  remains. 
The  cemeteries  of  the  prehistoric  communities  along 
the  Nile,  discovered  and  excavated  since  1894,  dis- 
close a  belief  in  a  future  life  which  was  already  in  an 
advanced  stage.  Thousands  of  graves,  the  oldest  of 
which  cannot  be  dated  later  than  the  end  of  the  fifth 
millennium  b.  c,  were  dug  by  these  primitive  people 
in  the  desert  gravels  along  the  margin  of  the  alluvium. 
In  the  bottom  of  the  pit,  which  is  but  a  few  feet  in 
depth,  lies  the  body  with  the  feet  drawn  up  toward 
the  chin  and  surrounded  by  a  meagre  equipment  of 
pottery,  flint  implements,  stone  weapons,  and  utensils, 
and  rude  personal  ornaments,  all  of  which  were,  of 
course,  intended  to  furnish  the  departed  for  his  future 
life. 

From  the  archaic  beliefs  represented  in  such  burials 
as  these  it  is  a  matter  of  fifteen  hundred  years  to  the 
appearance  of  the  earliest  written  documents  surviving 
to  us — documents  from  which  we  may  draw  fuller 
knowledge  of  the  more  developed  faith  of  a  people 
rapidly  rising  toward  a  high  material  civilization  and 
a  unified  governmental  organization,  the  first  great 
state  of  antiquity.  When  we  take  up  the  course  of 
the  development  about  3000  b.  c,  we  have  before  us 
the  complicated  results  of  a  commingling  of  originally 
distinct  beliefs  which  have  long  since  interpenetrated 
each  other  and  have  for  many  centuries  circulated  thus. 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  29 

— a  tangled  mass  of  threads  which  it  is  now  very 
difficult  or  impossible  to  disentangle. 

Certain  fundamental  distinctions  can  be  made,  how- 
ever. The  early  belief  that  the  dead  lived  in  or  at  the 
tomb,  which  must  therefore  be  equipped  to  furnish 
his  necessities  in  the  hereafter,  was  one  from  which 
the  Egyptian  has  never  escaped  entirely,  not  even  at 
the  present  day.  As  hostile  creatures  infesting  the 
cemeteries,  the  dead  were  dreaded,  and  protection  from 
their  malice  was  necessary.  Even  the  pyramid  must 
be  protected  from  the  malignant  dead  prowling  about 
the  necropolis,  and  in  later  times  a  man  might  be 
afflicted  even  in  his  house  by  a  deceased  member  of 
his  family  wandering  in  from  the  cemetery.  His 
mortuary  practices  therefore  constantly  gave  expres- 
sion to  his  involuntary  conviction  that  the  departed 
continued  to  inhabit  the  tomb  long  after  the  appear- 
ance of  highly  developed  views  regarding  a  blessed 
hereafter  elsewhere  in  some  distant  region.  We  who 
continue  to  place  flowers  on  the  graves  of  our  dead, 
though  we  may  at  the  same  time  cherish  beliefs  in 
some  remote  paradise  of  the  departed,  should  cer- 
tainly find  nothing  to  wonder  at  in  the  conflicting  be- 
liefs and  practices  of  the  ancient  Nile-dweller  five 
thousand  years  ago.  Side  by  side  the  two  beliefs  sub-*^ 
sisted,  that  the  dead  continued  to  dwell  in  or  near  then 
tomb,  and  at  the  same  time  that  he  had  departed  else-  * 
where  to  a  distant  and  blessed  realm. 

In  taking  up  the  first  of  these  two  beliefs,  the  so- 
journ in  the  tomb,  it  will  be  necessary  to  understand 
the  Egyptian  notion  of  a  person,  and  of  those  elements 
of  the  human  personality  which  might  survive  death. 
These  views  are,  of  course,  not  the  studied  product  of 
a  highly  trained  and  long-developed  self-consciousness. 
On  the  contrary,  we  have  in  them  the  involuntary  and 


30         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

unconscious  impressions  of  an  early  people,  in  the 
study  of  which  it  is  apparent  that  we  are  confronted 
by  the  earliest  chapter  in  folk-psychology  which  has 
anywhere  descended  to  us  from  the  past. 

On  the  walls  of  the  temple  of  Luxor,  where  the  birth 
of  Amenhotep  III  was  depicted  in  sculptured  scenes  late 
in  the  fifteenth  century  before  Christ,  we  find  the  little 
prince  brought  in  on  the  arm  of  the  Nile-god,  accom- 
panied apparently  by  another  child.  This  second 
figure,  identical  in  external  appearance  with  that  of 
the  prince,  is  a  being  called  by  the  Egyptians  the 
**  ka  " ;  it  was  born  with  the  prince,  being  communi- 
cated to  him  by  the  god.  This  curious  comrade  of  an 
individual  was  corporeal  and  the  fortunes  of  the  two 
were  ever  afterward  closely  associated;  but  the  ka 
was  not  an  element  of  the  personality,  as  is  so  often 
stated.  It  seems  to  me  from  a  study  of  the  Pyramid 
Texts,  that  the  nature  of  the  ka  has  been  fundamen- 
tally misunderstood.  He  was  a  kind  of  superior  genius 
intended  to  guide  the  fortunes  of  the  individual  in  the 
hereafter,  or  it  was  in  the  world  of  the  hereafter  that 
he  chiefly  if  not  exclusively  had  his  abode,  and  there 
he  awaited  the  coming  of  his  earthly  companion.  He 
is  roughly  parallel  with  the  later  notion  of  the  guard- 
ian angel  as  found  among  other  peoples,  and  he  is,  of 
course,  far  the  earliest  known  example  of  such  a  being. 

The  actual  personality  of  the  individual  in  life  con- 
sisted, according  to  the  Egyptian  notion,  in  the  visible 
body,  and  the  invisible  intelligence,  the  seat  of  the  last 
being  considered  the  ''  heart  "  or  the  "  belly,"  which  in- 
deed furnished  the  chief  designations  for  the  intelli- 
gence. Then  the  vital  principle  which,  as  so  frequently 
among  other  peoples,  was  identified  with  the  breath 
which  animated  the  body,  was  not  clearly  distinguished 
from  the  intelligence.     The  two  together  were  pic- 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  31 

tured  in  one  symbol,  a  human-headed  bird  with  human 
arms,  which  we  find  in  the  tomb  and  coffin  scenes  de- 
picted hovering  over  the  mummy  and  extending  to  its 
nostrils  in  one  hand  the  figure  of  a  swelling  sail,  the 
hieroglyph  for  wind  or  breath,  and  in  the  other  the 
well  known  so-called  crux  ansata/  or  symbol  of  life. 
This  curious  little  bird-man  was  called  by  the  Egyp- 
tians the  "  ba."  The  fact  has  been  strangely  over- 
looked that  originally  the  ba  came  into  existence  really 
for  the  first  time  at  the  death  of  the  individual.  All 
sorts  of  devices  and  ceremonies  were  resorted  to  that 
the  deceased  might  at  death  become  a  ba. 

From  these  and  other  facts  it  is  evident  that  the 
Egyptians  had  developed  a  rude  psychology  of  the 
dead,  in  accordance  with  which  they  endeavoured  to 
reconstitute  the  individual  by  processes  external  to 
him,  under  the  control  of  the  survivors,  especially  the 
mortuary  priest  who  possessed  the  indispensable  cere- 
monies for  accomplishing  this  end.  We  may  sum- 
marize it  all  in  the  statement  that  after  the  resuscita- 
tion of  the  body,  there  was  a  mental  restoration  or  re- 
constitution  of  the  faculties  one  by  one,  attained  espe- 
cially by  the  process  of  making  the  deceased  a  "  soul  " 
(ba),  in  which  capacity  he  again  existed  as  a  person, 
possessing  all  the  powers  that  would  enable  him  to  sub- 
sist and  survive  in  the  life  hereafter."* 

That  life  now  involved  an  elaborate  material  equip- 
ment, a  monumental  tomb  with  its  mortuary  furniture. 
It  was  the  duty  of  every  son  to  arrange  the  material 
equipment  of  his  father  for  the  life  beyond — a  duty  so 
naturally   and  universally   felt  that  it  involuntarily 

*  Really  a  sandal-string. 

'It  is  therefore  not  wholly  correct  to  attribute  to  the  Egyptians 
a  belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  strictly  interpreted  as  im- 
perishability, or  to  speak  of  his  "ideas  of  immortality." 


32  EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

passed  from  the  life  of  the  people  into  the  Osiris  myth 
as  the  duty  of  Horus  toward  his  father  Osiris.  The 
maintenance  of  the  departed,  in  theory  at  least  through 
all  time,  was,  however,  a  responsibility  which  the 
Egyptian  dared  not  entrust  exclusively  to  his  surviving 
family  or  eventually  to  a  posterity  whose  solicitude  on 
his  behalf  must  continue  to  wane  and  finally  disappear 
altogether.  The  noble,  therefore,  executed  carefully 
drawn  wills  and  testamentary  endowments,  the  income 
from  which  was  to  be  devoted  exclusively  to  the  main- 
tenance of  his  tomb  and  the  presentation  of  oblations 
of  incense,  ointment,  food,  drink,  and  clothing  in  lib- 
eral quantities  and  at  frequent  intervals.  The  source  of 
this  income  might  be  the  revenues  from  the  noble's 
own  lands  or  from  his  offices  and  the  perquisites  be- 
longing to  his  rank,  from  all  of  which  a  portion  might 
be  permanently  diverted  for  the  support  of  his  tomb 
and  its  ritual. 

The  Pharaoh  himself  might  reasonably  expect  that 
his  imposing  tomb  would  long  survive  the  destruction 
of  the  less  enduring  structures  in  which  his  nobles 
were  laid,  and  that  his  endowments,  too,  might  be 
made  to  outlast  those  of  his  less  powerful  contempo- 
raries. The  pyramid  as  a  stable  form  in  architecture 
has  impressed  itself  upon  all  time.  Beneath  this  vast 
mountain  of  stone,  as  a  result  of  its  mere  mass  and 
indestructibility  alone,  the  Pharaoh  looked  forward  to 
the  permanent  survival  of  his  body,  and  of  the  per- 
sonality with  which  it  was  so  Indissolubly  involved. 
Each  Pharaoh  of  the  Third  and  Fourth  Dynasties 
(early  Third  Millennium)  spent  a  large  share  of  his 
available  resources  in  erecting  this  vast  tomb,  which 
was  to  receive  his  body  and  insure  its  preservation 
after  death.  It  became  the  chief  object  of  the  state 
and  its  organization,  thus  to  insure  the  king's  survival 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  33 

in  the  hereafter.  Resting  beneath  the  pyramid,  the 
king's  wants  were  elaborately  met  by  a  sumptuous  and 
magnificent  ritual  performed  on  his  behalf  in  the  tem- 
ple before  his  tomb.  The  increasing  number  of  royal 
tombs,  however,  made  it  more  and  more  difficult  as  a 
mere  matter  of  management  and  administration  to 
maintain  them.  Hence  even  the  priests  of  Sahure's 
pyramid  in  the  middle  of  the  twenty-eighth  century 
B.  c,  unable  properly  to  protect  the  king's  pyramid- 
temple,  found  it  much  cheaper  and  more  convenient, 
to  wall  up  all  of  the  side  entrances  and  leave  only  the 
causeway  as  the  entrance  to  the  temple.  Not  long 
after  2500  B.  c,  indeed  the  whole  sixty-mile  line  of 
Old  Kingdom  pyramids  from  Medum  on  the  south  to 
Gizeh  on  the  north  had  become  a  desert  solitude. 

The  pyramids  mark  the  culmination  of  the  belief 
in  material  equipment  as  completely  efficacious  in  se-j 
curing  felicity  for  the  dead.  The  great  pyramids  of 
Gizeh  represent  the  effort  of  Titanic  energies  absorb- 
ing all  the  resources  of  a  great  state  as  they  converged 
upon  one  supreme  endeavour  to  sheath  eternally  the 
body  of  a  single  man,  the  head  of  the  state,  in  a  husk 
of  masonry  so  colossal  that  by  these  purely  material 
means  the  royal  body  might  defy  all  time  and  by 
sheer  force  of  mechanical  supremacy  make  conquest  of 
immortality.  The  decline  of  such  vast  pyramids  as 
those  of  the  Fourth  Dynasty  of  Gizeh,  and  the  final 
insertion  of  the  Pyramid  Texts  in  the  pyramids  be- 
ginning with  the  last  king  of  the  Fifth  Dynasty  about 
2625  B.  c,  puts  the  emphasis  on  well-being  elsewhere, 
a  belief  in  felicity  in  some  distant  place  not  so  entirely 
dependent  upon  material  means  and  recognizes  in 
some  degree  the  fact  that  piles  of  masonry  cannot  con- 
fer that  immortality  which  a  man  must  win  in  his  own 
soul.     The  Pyramid  Texts  as  a  whole  furnish  us  the 


34         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

oldest  chapter  in  human  thinking  preserved  to  us,  the 
remotest  reach  in  the  intellectual  history  of  man  which 
we  are  now  able  to  discern.  Written  in  hieroglyphic 
they  occupy  the  walls  of  the  passages,  galleries,  and 
chambers  in  five  of  the  pyramids  of  Sakkara.  They 
represent  a  period  of  aibout  one  hundred  and  fifty 
years  from  the  vicinity  of  2625  to  possibly  2475  b.  c, 
that  is  the  zvhole  of  the  twenty-sixth  century  and  pos- 
sibly a  quarter  of  a  century  before  and  after  it.  It  is 
evident,  however,  that  they  contain  inherited  material 
much  older  than  this.  Within  the  period  of  a  century 
and  a  half  covered  by  our  five  copies,  development  is 
noticeable  In  the  Pyramid  Texts.  Evidences  of  edit- 
ing in  the  later  copies,  which,  however,  are  not  found 
in  the  earlier  copies,  are  clearly  discernible.  The  proc- 
esses of  thought  and  the  development  of  custom  and 
belief  which  brought  them  forth  were  going  on  until 
the  last  copy  was  produced  in  the  early  twenty-fifth 
century  B.  c.  They  represent  a  period  of  at  least  a 
thousand  years,  and  a  thousand  years,  it  should  not  be 
forgotten,  which  was  ended  some  four  thousand  five 
hundred  years  ago. 

While  their  especial  function  may  be  broadly  stated 
to  be  to  insure  the  king  felicity  in  the  hereafter,  the 
Pyramid  Texts  constantly  reflect,  as  all  literature  does, 
the  ebb  and  flow  of  the  life  around  them,  and  they 
speak  in  terms  of  the  experience  of  the  men  who  pro- 
duced them,  terms  current  in  the  daily  life  of  palace, 
street,  and  bazaar,  or  again  terms  which  were  born  in 
the  sacred  solitude  of  the  Inner  temple.  But  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  these  archaic  texts  are  saturated 
with  the  life  out  of  which  they  have  come,  they  form 
together  almost  a  terra  incognita.  As  one  endeavours 
to  penetrate  It,  his  feeling  is  like  that  of  entering  a 
vast   primeval    forest,    a   twilight   jungle   filled   with 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  35 

strange  forms  and  elusive  shadows  peopling  a  wilder- 
ness through  which  there  is  no  path.  An  archaic  or- 
thography veils  and  obscures  words  with  which  the 
reader  may  be  quite  familiar  in  their  later  and  habitual 
garb.  They  serve,  too,  in  situations  and  with  mean- 
ings as  strange  to  the  reader  as  their  spelling.  Besides 
these  disguised  friends,  there  is  a  host  of  utter  stran- 
gers, a  great  company  of  archaic  words  which  have 
lived  a  long  and  active  life  in  a  far-away  world  now 
completely  lost  and  forgotten.  Hoary  with  age,  like 
exhausted  runners,  they  totter  into  sight  for  a  brief 
period,  barely  surviving  in  these  ancient  texts,  then 
disappear  forever,  and  hence  are  never  met  with  again. 
They  vaguely  disclose  to  us  a  vanished  world  of 
thought  and  speech,  the  last  of  the  unnumbered  seons 
through  which  prehistoric  man  has  passed  till  he 
finally  comes  within  hailing  distance  of  us  as  he  enters 
the  historic  age.  But  these  hoary  strangers,  survivors 
of  a  forgotten  age,  still  serving  on  for  a  generation 
or  two  in  the  Pyramid  Texts,  often  remain  strangers 
until  they  disappear;  we  have  no  means  of  making 
their  acquaintance  or  of  forcing  them  to  reveal  to  us 
their  names  or  the  message  which  they  bear,  and  no 
art  of  lexicography  can  force  them  all  to  yield  up 
their  secrets.  Combined  with  these  words,  too,  there 
is  a  deal  of  difficult  construction,  much  enhanced  by 
the  obscure,  dark,  and  elusive  nature  of  the  content 
of  these  archaic  documents ;  abounding  in  allusions  to 
incidents  in  lost  myths,  to  customs  and  usages  long 
since  ended,  they  are  built  up  out  of  a  fabric  of  life, 
thought,  and  experience  largely  unfamiliar  or  entirely 
unknown  to  us. 

We  have  said  that  their  function  is  essentially  to  in- 
sure the  king's  felicity  in  the  hereafter.  The  chief  and 
dominant  note  throughout  is  insistent,  even  passion- 


36         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

ate,  protest  against  death.  They  may  be  said  to  be 
the  record  of  humanity's  earHest  supreme  revolt 
against  the  great  darkness  and  silence  from  which 
none  returns.  The  word  death  never  occurs  in  the 
Pyramid  Texts  except  in  the  negative  or  applied  to  a 
foe.  Over  and  over  again  we  hear  the  indomitable 
assurance  that  the  dead  lives.  "  King  Teti  has  not  died 
the  death,  he  has  become  a  glorious  one  in  the  hori- 
zon " ;  ''  Ho,  King  Unis !  Thou  didst  not  depart  dead, 
thou  didst  depart  living  " ;  '*  Thou  hast  departed  that 
thou  mightest  live,  thou  hast  not  departed  that  thou 
mightest  die  ";  *'  Thou  diest  not." 

While  the  content  of  the  Pyramid  Texts  may  be 
thus  indicated  in  a  general  way,  a  precise  and  full 
analysis  is  a  far  more  difficult  matter.  The  form  of 
the  literature  contained  is  happily  more  easily  disposed 
of.  Among  the  oldest  literary  fragments  in  the  col- 
lection are  the  religious  hymns,  and  these  exhibit  an 
early  poetic  form,  that  of  couplets  displaying  parallel- 
ism in  arrangement  of  zvords  and  thought — the  form 
which  is  familiar  to  all  in  the  Hebrew  psalms  as 
"  parallelism  of  members."  It  is  carried  back  by  its 
employment  in  the  Pyramid  Texts  into  the  fourth 
millennium  B.  c. ;  by  far  earlier  than  its  appearance 
anywhere  else.  It  is  indeed  the  oldest  of  all  literary 
forms  known  to  us.  Its  use  is  not  confined  to  the 
hymns  mentioned,  but  appears  also  in  other  portions 
of  the  Pyramid  Texts,  where  it  is,  however,  not  usu- 
ally so  highly  developed. 

Besides  this  form,  which  strengthens  the  claim  of 
these  fragments  to  be  regarded  as  literature  in  our 
sense  of  the  term,  there  is  here  and  there,  though  not 
frequently,  some  display  of  literary  quality  in  thought 
and  language.  There  is,  for  example,  a  fine  touch  of 
imagination  in  one  of  the  many  descriptions  of  the 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  37 

resurrection  of  Osiris:  "Loose  thy  bandages!  They 
are  not  bandages,  they  are  the  locks  of  Nephthys,"  the 
weeping  goddess  hanging  over  the  body  of  her  dead 
brother.  The  ancient  priest  who  wrote  the  Hne  sees 
in  the  bandages  that  swathe  the  silent  form  the  heavy 
locks  of  the  goddess  which  fall  and  mingle  with  them. 
There  is  an  elemental  power,  too,  in  the  daring  im- 
agination which  discerns  the  sympathetic  emotion  of 
the  whole  universe  as  the  dread  catastrophe  of  the 
king's  death,  and  the  uncanny  power  of  his  coming 
among  the  gods  of  the  sky  are  realized  by  the  ele- 
ments. "  The  sky  weeps  for  thee,  the  earth  trembles 
for  thee  "  say  the  ancient  mourners  for  the  king,  or 
when  they  see  him  in  imagination  ascending  the  vault 
of  the  sky  they  say: 

"  Clouds  darken  the  sky, 
The  stars  rain  down, 
The  bows  [a  constellation]  stagger, 
The  bones  of  the  Hell-hounds  tremble, 
When  they  see  King  Unis, 
Dawning  as  a  soul." 

While  the  Pyramid  Texts  have  not  been  able  to 
shake  off  the  old  view  of  the  sojourn  at  the  tomb, 
they  give  it  little  thought,  and  deal  almost  entirely 
with  a  blessed  life  in  a  distant  realm.  Let  it  be  stated 
clearly  at  the  outset  that  this  distant  realm  is  the  sky, 
and  that  the  Pyramid  Texts  know  practically  nothing 
of  the  hereafter  in  the  Nether  World. 

The  men  in  whose  hands  the  Pyramid  Texts  grew 
up  took  the  greatest  delight  in  elaborating  and  re- 
iterating in  ever  new  and  different  pictures  the  bless- 
edness enjoyed  by  the  king,  thus  protected,  main^ 
tained,  and  honoured  in  the  Sun-god's  realm.  Their 
imagination  flits  from  figure  to  figure,  and  picture 


38         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

to  picture,  and  allowed  to  run  like  some  wild  tropical 
plant  without  control  or  guidance,  weaves  a  complex 
fajDric  of  a  thousand  hues  which  refuse  to  merge  into 
one  harmonious  or  coherent  whole.  At  one  moment 
the  king  is  enthroned  in  Oriental  splendour  as  he  was 
on  earth,  at  another  he  wanders  in  the  Field  of 
Rushes  in  search  of  food ;  here  he  appears  in  the  bow 
of  the  Solar  barque,  yonder  he  is  one  of  the  Imperish- 
able Stars  acting  as  the  servant  of  Re.  There  is  no 
endeavour  to  harmonize  these  inconsistent  represen- 
tations, although  in  the  mass  we  gain  a  broad  impres- 
sion of  the  eternal  felicity  of  a  godlike  ruler,  **  who 
puts  his  annals  (the  record  of  his  deeds)  among  his 
people,  and  his  love  among  the  gods." 

Over  and  over  again  the  story  of  the  king's  trans- 
lation to  the  sky  is  brought  before  us  with  an  indomi- 
table conviction  and  insistence  which  it  must  be  con- 
cluded were  thought  to  make  the  words  of  inevitable 
power  and  effect.  Condensed  into  a  paragraph  the 
whole  sweep  of  the  king's  celestial  career  is  brought 
before  us  in  a  few  swift  strokes,  each  like  a  ray  of 
sunshine  touching  but  for  an  instant  the  prominences 
of  some  far  landscape  across  which  we  look.  Long 
successions  of  such  paragraphs  crowd  one  behind  an- 
other like  the  waves  of  the  sea,  as  if  to  overwhelm 
and  in  their  impetuous  rush,  to  bear  away  as  on  a 
flood  the  insistent  fact  of  death,  and  sweep  it  to  utter 
annihilation.  It  is  difficult  to  convey  to  the  modern 
reader  the  impression  made  by  these  thousands  of  lines 
as  they  roll  on  in  victorious  disregard  of  the  invinci- 
bility of  death,  especially  in  those  epitomizations  of  the 
king's  celestial  career  which  are  so  frequent.  In  so 
far  as  they  owe  their  impressiveness  to  their  mere 
bulk,  built  up  like  a  bulwark  against  death,  we  can 
gain  the  impression  only  by  reading  the  whole  collec- 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  39 


tion  through.  The  general  character  of  such  individ- 
ual epitomizing  paragraphs  is  perhaps  suggested  by 
such  as  the  following:  The  voice  addresses  the  king: 
"  Thy  seats  among  the  gods  abide ;  Re  leans  upon  thee 
v^ith  his  shoulder.  Thy  odour  is  as  their  odour,  tliy 
sweat  is  as  the  sweat  of  the  Eighteen  Gods.  Thou 
dawnest,  O  King  Teti,  in  the  royal  hood;  thy  hand 
seizes  the  sceptre,  thy  fist  grasps  the  mace.  Stand,  O 
King  Teti,  in  front  of  the  two  palaces  of  the  South 
and  the  North.  Judge  the  gods,  (for)  thou  art  of  the 
elders  who  surround  Re,  who  are  before  the  Morning 
Star.  Thou  art  born  at  thy  new  moons  like  the  Moon. 
Re  leans  upon  thee  in  the  horizon,  O  King  Teti.  The 
Imperishable  Stars  follow  thee,  the  companions  of  Re 
serve  thee,  O  King  Teti.  Thou  purihest  thyself,  thou 
ascendest  to  Re ;  the  sky  is  not  empty  of  thee,  O  King 
Teti,  forever." 

Such  in  the  main  outlines  were  the  beliefs  held  by 
the  Egyptian  of  the  Old  Kingdom  (2980-2475  b.  c.) 
concerning  the  Solar  hereafter.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  at  some  time  they  were  a  fairly  well-de- 
fined group,  separable  as  a  group  from  those  of  the 
Osirian  faith.  To  the  Osirian  faith,  moreover,  they 
were  opposed,  and  evidences  of  their  incompatibility, 
or  even  hostility,  have  survived.  It  is  clear  that  in  the 
Solar  faith  we  have  a  state  theology,  wath  all  the 
splendour  and  the  prestige  of  its  royal  patrons  behind 
it;  while  in  that  of  Osiris  we  are  confronted  by  a  re- 
ligion of  the  people,  which  made  a  strong  appeal  to  the 
individual  believer.  In  the  mergence  of  these  two  faiths 
we  discern  for  the  first  time  in  history  the  age-long 
struggle  between  the  state  form  of  religion  and  the 
popular  faith  of  the  masses.  It  must  now  be  our  pur- 
pose to  disengage  as  far  as  may  be  the  nucleus  of  the 
Osirian  teaching  of  the  after  life,  and  to  trace  the  still 


40         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

undetermined  course  of  its  struggle  with  the  imposing 
celestial  theology  whose  epic  of  the  royal  dead  we 
have  been  following. 

Probably  nothing  in  the  life  of  the  ancient  Nile- 
dwellers  commends  them  more  appealingly  to  our 
sympathetic  consideration  than  the  fact  that  when  the 
Osirian  faith  had  once  developed,  it  so  quickly  caught 
the  popular  imagination  as  to  spread  rapidly  among 
all  classes.  It  thus  came  into  active  competition  with 
the  Solar  faith  of  the  court  and  state  priesthoods. 
This  was  especially  true  of  its  doctrines  of  the  after 
life,  in  the  progress  of  which  we  can  discern  the  grad- 
ual Osirianization  of  Egyptian  religion,  and  especially 
of  the  Solar  teaching  regarding  the  hereafter.  There 
is  nothing  in  the  Osiris  myth,  nor  in  the  character  or 
later  history  of  Osiris,  to  suggest  a  celestial  hereafter. 
Indeed  clear  and  unequivocal  survivals  from  a  period 
when  Osiris  was  hostile  to  the  celestial  and  Solar  dead 
are  still  discoverable  in  the  Pyramid  Texts. 

The  supreme  boon  which  the  identity  of  the  king 
with  Osiris  assured  the  dead  Pharaoh  was  the  good 
offices  of  Horus,  the  personification  of  filial  piety. 
All  the  pious  attentions  which  Osiris  had  once  en- 
joyed at  the  hands  of  his  son  Horus  now  likewise  be- 
come the  king's  portion.  The  litigation  which  the 
myth  recounts  at  Heliopolis  is  successfully  met  by  the 
aid  of  Horus,  as  well  as  Thoth,  and,  like  Osiris,  the 
dead  king  received  the  predicate  "  righteous  of  voice," 
or  "  justified,"  an  epithet  which  was  later  construed  as 
meaning  **  triumphant." 

While  the  Heliopolitan  priests  thus  solarized  and 
celestialized  the  Osirian  mortuary  doctrines,  although 
they  were  essentially  terrestrial  in  origin  and  character, 
these  Solar  theologians  were  in  their  turn  unable  to 
resist  the  powerful  influence  which  the  popularity  of 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  41 

the  Osirian  faith  brought  to  bear  upon  them.  The 
Pyramid  Texts  were  eventually  Osirianized,  and  the 
steady  progress  of  this  process,  exhibiting  the  course 
of  the  struggle  between  the  Solar  faith  of  the  state 
temples  and  the  popular  beliefs  of  the  Osirian  religion 
thus  discernible  in  the  Pyramid  Texts,  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  survivals  from  the  early  world,  pre- 
serving as  it  does  the  earliest  example  of  such  a  spir- 
itual and  intellectual  conflict  between  state  and  popu- 
lar religion.  The  dying  Sun  and  the  dying  Osiris  are 
here  in  competition.  With  the  people  the  human 
Osiris  makes  the  stronger  appeal,  and  even  the  wealthy 
and  subsidized  priesthoods  of  the  Solar  religion  could 
not  withstand  the  power  of  this  appeal.  What  we 
have  opportunity  to  observe  in  the  Pyramid  Texts  is 
specifically  the  gradual  but  irresistible  intrusion  of 
Osiris  into  the  Solar  doctrines  of  the  hereafter  and 
their  resulting  Osirianization. 

Thus  in  the  royal  and  state  temple  theology,  Osiris 
is  lifted  to  the  sky,  and  while  he  is  there  Solarized,  he 
also  tinctures  the  Solar  teaching  of  the  celestial  king- 
dom of  the  dead  with  Osirian  doctrines.  The  result 
was  thus  inevitable  confusion,  as  the  two  faiths  inter- 
penetrated. In  both  faiths  we  recall  that  the  king  is 
identified  with  the  god,  and  hence  we  find  him  un- 
hesitatingly called  Osiris  and  Re  in  the  same  passage. 

Nowhere  in  ancient  times  has  the  capacity  of  a  race 
to  control  the  material  world  been  so  fully  expressed 
in  surviving  material  remains  as  in  the  Nile  valley. 
In  the  abounding  fullness  of  their  energies  they  built 
up  a  fabric  of  material  civilization,  the  monuments 
of  which  it  would  seem  time  can  never  wholly  sweep 
away.  But  the  manifold  substance  of  life,  interfused 
of  custom  and  tradition,  of  individual  traits  fashioned 
among  social,  economic,  and  governmental  forces,  ever 


42  EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

developing  in  the  daily  operations  and  functions  of 
life — all  that  made  the  stage  and  setting  amid  which 
necessity  for  hourly  moral  decisions  arises — all  that 
creates  the  attitude  of  the  individual  and  impels  the 
inner  man  as  he  is  called  upon  to  make  these  decisions 
— all  these  constitute  an  elusive  higher  atmosphere  of 
the  ancient  v^orld  which  tomb  masonry  and  pyramid 
orientation  have  not  transmitted  to  us.  Save  in  a  few 
scanty  references  in  the  inscriptions  of  the  Pyramid 
Age,  it  has  vanished  forever;  for  even  the  inscriptions, 
as  we  have  seen,  are  concerned  chiefly  with  the  ^|Wr 
JmoLwelfare  of  the  departed  in  the  hereafter.  What 
they  disclose,  however,  is  of  unique  interest,  preserv- 
ing as  it  does  the  earliest  chapter  in  the  moral  devel- 
opment of  man  as  known  to  us,  a  chapter  marking 
perhaps  the  most  important  fundamental  step  in  the 
evolution  of  civilizatioa 

It  is  especially  in  the  tomb  that  such  claims  of  moral 
worthiness  are  made.  This  is  not  an  accident;  such 
claims  are  made  in  the  tomb  in  this  age  with  the  log- 
ical purpose  of  securing  in  the  hereafter  any  benefits 
accruing  from  such  virtues.  Thus  on  the  ibase  of  a 
mortuary  statue  set  up  in  a  tomb,  the  deceased  repre- 
sented by  the  portrait  statue  says:  ''  I  had  these 
statues  made  by  the  sculptor  and  he  was  satisfied  with 
the  pay  which  I  gave  him."  The  man  very  evidently 
wished  it  known  that  his  mortuary  equipment  was 
honestly  gotten. 

Over  and  over  these  men  of  four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred to  five  thousand  years  ago  affirm  their  innocence 
of  evil-doing.  "  Never  did  I  do  anything  evil  toward 
any  person,"  says  the  chief  physician  of  King  Sahure 
in  the  middle  of  the  twenty-eighth  century  before 
Christ;  "  I  was  a  doer  of  that  which  pleased  all  men." 
It  is  evident  from  such  addresses  to  the  living  as  this 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  43 

that  one  motive  of  these  affirmations  of  estimable  char- 
acter was  the  hope  of  maintaining  the  good-will  of 
one's  surviving  neighbours,  that  they  might  present 
mortuary  offerings  of  food  and  drink  at  the  tomb. 
It  is  equally  clear  also  that  such  moral  worthiness  was 
deemed  of  value  in  the  sight  of  the  gods  and  might  in- 
fluence materially  the  happiness  of  the  dead  in  the 
hereafter.  An  ethical  ordeal  awaited  those  who  had 
passed  into  the  shadow  world.  "  I  desired  that  it 
might  be  well  with  me  in  the  Great  God's  presence," 
says  a  noble  of  the  age. 

It  is  of  great  importance  to  identify  these  ideas  of 
a  moral  searching  in  the  hereafter  wdth  one  or  the 
other  of  the  two  dominant  theologies,  that  is  with  Re 
or  Osiris.  Unfortunately  the  god  whose  judgment  is 
feared  is  not  mentioned  by  name,  but  an  epithet, 
"  Great  God,"  is  employed  instead.  This  is  expanded 
in  one  tomb  to  "  Great  God,  lord  of  the  sky."  It  is 
hardly  possible  that  any  other  than  Re  can  be  meant. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  in  the  Old  Kingdom  the 
sovereignty  of  Re  had  resulted  in  attributing  to  him 
the  moral  requirements  laid  upon  the  dead  in  the  here- 
after, and  that  in  the  surviving  literature  of  that  age 
he  is  chiefly  the  righteous  god  rather  than  Osiris. 
Contrary  to  the  conclusion  generally  accepted  at  pres- 
ent, it  was  the  Sun-god,  therefore,  who  was  the  earliest 
champion  of  moral  worthiness  and  the  great  judge  in 
the  hereafter.  A  thousand  years  later  Osiris,  as  the 
victorious  litigant  at  Heliopolis,  as  the  champion  of 
the  dead  who  had  legally  triumphed  over  all  his  ene- 
mies, emerged  as  the  great  moral  judge.  In  the  usur- 
pation of  this  role  by  Osiris  we  have  another  evidence 
of  the  irresistible  process  which  Osirianized  Egyptian 
religion.  To  these  later  conditions  from  which  mod- 
ern students  have  drawn  their  impressions,  the  current 


44         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

conclusion  regarding  the  early  moral  supremacy  of 
Osiris  is  due.  The  greater  age  of  the  Solar  faith  in 
this  as  in  other  particulars  is,  however,  perfectly  clear. 
As  we  have  so  often  said,  it  is  not  easy  to  read  the 
spiritual  and  intellectual  progress  of  a  race  in  monu- 
ments so  largely  material  as  contrasted  with  literary 
documents.  It  is  easy  to  be  misled  and  to  misinterpret 
the  meagre  indications  furnished  by  purely  material 
monuments.  Behind  them  lies  a  vast  complex  of  hu- 
man forces,  and  of  human  thinking  which  for  the 
most  part  eludes  us.  Nevertheless  it  is  impossible  to 
contemplate  the  colossal  tombs  of  the  Fourth  Dynasty, 
so  well  known  as  the  Pyramids  of  Gizeh,  and  to  con- 
trast them  with  the  comparatively  diminutive  tombs 
which  follow  in  the  next  two  dynasties,  without,  as  we 
have  before  hinted,  discerning  more  than  exclusively 
political  causes  behind  this  sudden  and  startling 
change.  The  insertion  of  the  Pyramid  Texts  them- 
selves during  the  last  century  and  a  half  of  the  Pyra- 
mid Age  is  an  evident  resort  to  less  material  forces 
enlisted  on  behalf  of  the  departed  Pharaoh  as  he  con- 
fronted the  shadow  world.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Great  Pyramids  of  Gizeh  represent,  as  we  have  said 
before,  the  struggle  of  Titanic  material  forces  in  the 
endeavour  by  purely  material  means  to  immortalize 
the  king's  physical  body,  enveloping  it  in  a  vast  and 
impenetrable  husk  of  masonry,  there  to  preserve  for- 
ever all  that  linked  the  spirit  of  the  king  to  material 
life.  The  Great  Pyramids  of  Gizeh,  while  they  are 
to-day  the  most  imposing  surviving  witnesses  to  the 
earliest  emergence  of  organized  man  and  the  triumph 
of  concerted  effort,  are  likewise  the  silent  but  eloquent 
expression  of  a  supreme  endeavour  to  achieve  immor- 
tality by  sheer  physical  force.  For  merely  physical 
reasons  such  a  colossal  struggle  with  the  forces  of  de- 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  45 

cay  could  not  go  on  indefinitely;  with  these  reasons 
political  tendencies,  too,  made  common  cause;  but 
combined  with  all  these  we  must  not  fail  to  see  that 
the  mere  insertion  of  the  Pyramid  Texts  in  itself  in 
the  royal  tombs  of  the  last  century  and  a  half  of  the 
Pyramid  Age  was  an  abandonment  of  the  Titanic 
struggle  with  material  forces  and  an  evident  resort  to 
less  tangible  agencies.  The  recognition  of  a  judgment 
and  the  requirement  of  moral  worthiness  in  the  here- 
after was  a  still  more  momentous  step  in  the  same  di- 
rection. It  marked  a  transition  from  a  reliance  on 
agencies  external  to  the  personality  of  the  dead  to  de- 
pendence on  inner  values.  Immortality  began  to  make 
its  appeal  as  a  thing  achieved  in  a  man's  own  soul.  It 
was  the  beginning  of  a  shift  of  emphasis  from  objec- 
tive advantages  to  subjective  qualities.  It  meant  the 
ultimate  extension  of  the  dominion  of  God  beyond  the 
limits  of  the  material  world,  that  he  might  reign  in 
the  invisible  kingdom  of  the  heart.  It  was  thus  also 
the  first  step  in  the  long  process  by  which  the  individual 
personality  begins  to  emerge  as  contrasted  with  the 
mass  of  society,  a  process  which  we  can  discern  like- 
wise in  the  marvellous  portrait  sculpture  of  the  Pyr- 
amid Age.  The  vision  of  the  possibilities  of  individ- 
ual character  had  dimly  dawned  upon  the  minds  of 
these  men  of  the  early  world;  their  own  moral  ideas 
were  passing  into  the  character  of  their  greatest  gods, 
and  with  this  supreme  achievement  the  development 
of  the  five  hundred  years  which  we  call  the  Pyramid 
Age  had  reached  its  close. 

When  Egypt  emerged  from  the  darkness  which  fol- 
lowed the  Pyramid  Age,  and  after  a  century  and  a  half 
of  preparatory  development  reached  the  culmination 
of  the  Feudal  Age  (Twelfth  Dynasty),  about  2000 
B.   C,  the  men  of  this   classic  period   looked   back 


46  RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

upon  a  struggle  of  their  ancestors  with  death — a  strug- 
gle whose  visible  monuments  were  distributed  along  a 
period  of  fifteen  hundred  years.     Of  the  thousand 
years  wdiich  had  elapsed  since  the  Pyramid  Age  be- 
gan, the  first  five  hundred  was  impressively  embodied 
before  their  eyes  in  that  sixty-mile  rampart  of  pyra- 
mids sweeping  along  the  margin  of  the  western  desert. 
There  they  stretched  like  a  line  of  silent  outposts  on 
the  frontiers  of  death.    It  was  a  thousand  years  since 
the  first  of  them  had  been  built,  and  five  hundred  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  architects  had  rolled  up  their 
papyrus  drawings  of  the  latest,  and  the  last  group  of 
workmen  had  gathered  up  their  tools  and  departed. 
The  priesthoods,  too,  left  without  support,  had,  as  w^e 
have  already  seen,  long  forsaken  the  sumptuous  tem- 
ples and  monumental  approaches  that  rose  on  the  valley 
side.     The  sixty-mile  pyramid  cemetery  lay  in  silent 
desolation,  deeply  encumbered  with  sand  half -hiding 
the  ruins  of  massive  architecture,  of  fallen  architraves 
and  prostrate  colonnades,  a  solitary  waste  where  only 
the  slinking  figure  of  the  vanishing  jackal  suggested 
the  futile  protection  of  the  old  mortuary  gods  of  the 
desert.     Even  at  the  present  day  no  such  imposing 
spectacle  as  the  pyramid  cemeteries  of  Egypt  is  to  be 
found  anywhere  in  the  ancient  world,  and  we  easily 
recall  something  of  the  reverential  awe  with  which 
they  oppressed  us  when  we  first  looked  upon  them. 
Do  we  ever  realize  that  this  impression  was  felt  by 
their  descendants  only  a  few  centuries  after  the  build- 
ers had  passed  away?     and  that  they  were  already 
ancient  to  the  men  of  2000  B.  c.  ?     On  the  minds  of 
the  men  of  the  Feudal  Age  the   Pyramid  cemetery 
made  a  profound  impression.    If  already  in  the  Pyra- 
mid Age  there  had  been  some  relaxation  in  the  con- 
viction that  by  sheer  material  force  man  might  make 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  47 

conquest  of  immortality,  the  spectacle  of  these  colossal 
ruins  now  quickened  such  doubts  into  open  scepticism, 
a  scepticism  which  ere  long  found  effective  literary 
expression. 

It  was  a  momentous  thousand  years  of  intellectual 
progress,  therefore,  of  which  these  sceptics  of  the 
Feudal  Age  represented  the  culmination.  Their  men- 
tal attitude  finds  expression  in  a  song  of  mourning, 
doubtless  often  repeated  in  the  cemetery,  and  as  we 
follow  the  lines  we  might  conclude  that  the  author 
had  certainly  stood  on  some  elevated  point  overlook- 
ing the  pyramid  cemetery  of  the  Old  Kingdom  as  he 
wrote  them. 

SONG  OF  THE  HARPER 

"  How  prosperous  is  this  good  prince ! 
It  is  a  goodly  destiny,  that  the  bodies 

diminish. 
Passing  away  while  others  remain. 
Since  the  time  of  the  ancestors. 
The  gods  who  were  aforetime. 
Who  rest  in  their  pyramids, 
Nobles  and  the  glorious  departed  likewise, 
Entombed  in  their  pyramids. 
Those  who  built  their  (tomb) -temples. 
Their  place  is  no  more. 
Behold  what  has  become  of  them ; 
Behold  the  places  thereof; 
Their  walls  are  dismantled, 
Their  places  are  no  more. 
As  if  they  had  never  been. 

"  None  cometh  from  thence 
That  he  may  tell  (us)  how  they  fare; 
That  he  may  tell   (us)   of  their  fortunes, 
That  he  may  content  our  heart, 
Until  we  (too)  depart 
To  the  place  whither  they  have  gone. 


48  RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

"  Encourage  thy  heart  to  forget  it, 
Making  it  pleasant  for  thee  to  follow  thy 

desire, 
While  thou  livest. 
Put  myrrh  upon  thy  head 
And  garments  on  thee  of  fine  linen, 
Imbued  with  marvellous  luxuries, 
The  genuine  things  of  the  gods. 

"  Celebrate  the  glad  day, 
Be  not  weary  therein, 
Lo,  no  man  taketh  his  goods  with  him. 
Yea,  none  returneth  again  that  is  gone 
thither." 

Self-indulgence  and  hereafter  a  good  name  on  earth 
may  be  said  to  summarize  the  teaching  of  these  scep- 
tics, who  have  cast  away  the  teaching  of  the  fathers. 
Nevertheless  there  were  those  who  rejected  even  these 
admonitions  as  but  a  superficial  solution  of  the  dark 
problem  of  life.  Suppose  that  the  good  name  be  inno- 
cently and  unjustly  forfeited,  and  the  opportunities  for 
self-indulgence  cut  off  by  disease  and  misfortune.  It 
is  exactly  this  situation  which  is  presented  to  us  in  one 
of  the  most  remarkable  documents  surviving  from 
this  remote  age.  We  may  term  it  **  The  Dialogue  of 
a  Misanthrope  with  His  Own  Soul,"  though  no  ancient 
title  has  survived.  This  unhappy  sufferer  finds  no 
solution  of  his  problem  of  life  but  to  end  it,  and  his 
dialogue  concludes  with  a  song  in  praise  of  death. 

DEATH  A  GLAD  RELEASE 

"  Death  is  before  me  to-day 
(Like)  the  recovery  of  a  sick  man. 
Like  going  forth  into  a  garden  after  sickness. 

"  Death  is  before  me  to-day, 
As  a  man  longs  to  see  his  house 
When  he  has  spent  years  in  captivity." 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  49 

Thus  longing  for  the  glad  release  which  death  af- 
fords, the  soul  of  the  unhappy  man  at  last  yields,  he 
enters  the  shadow  and  passes  on  to  be  with  "  those 
who  are  yonder."  In  spite  of  the  evident  crudity  of 
the  composition  it  is  not  without  some  feeling  that  we 
watch  this  unknown  go,  the  earliest  human  soul  into 
the  chambers  of  which  we  are  permitted  a  glimpse 
across  a  lapse  of  four  thousand  years. 

In  this  document,  then,  we  discern  the  emergence 
of  a  new  realm,  the  realm  of  social  forces;  for  while 
we  have  here  the  tragedy  of  the  individual  unjustly 
afflicted,  his  very  affliction  is  due  to  the  inexorable 
grip  of  social  forces,  calling  for  a  crusade  of  social 
righteousness.  The  dawn  of  that  social  crusade  and 
the  regeneration  which  followed  are  still  to  be  con- 
sidered. For  concern  for  social  misfortune,  the  ability 
to  contemplate  and  discern  the  unworthiness  of  men, 
the  calamities  that  befall  society,  and  the  chronic 
misery  which  afflicts  men  as  a  body  now  appear  as  the 
subject  of  dark  and  pessimistic  reflections  in  this  re- 
markable age  of  growing  self-consciousness  and  earli- 
est disillusionment. 

The  appearance  in  this  remote  age  of  the  necessary 
detachment  and  the  capacity  to  contemplate  society, 
things  before  unknown  in  the  thought  of  man,  is  a  sig- 
nificant phenomenon.  Still  more  significant,  however, 
is  a  vision  of  the  possible  redemption  of  society,  and 
the  agent  of  that  redemption  as  a  righteous  king,  who 
is  to  shield  his  own  and  to  purge  the  earth  of  the 
wicked.  And  this  justice  which  was  to  rule  the  world 
of  the  living  was  to  pass  over  also  into  the  world  of 
the  dead.  A  pamphleteer  for  social  justice  nearly 
four  thousand  years  ago  admonishes  the  nobles  of  his 
time:  "  Do  justice  for  the  sake  of  the  lord  of  justice. 
I.     .     .     For  justice  (or  *  righteousness,  right,  truth  ') 


50         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

is  for  eternity.  It  descends  with  him  that  doeth  it 
into  the  grave,  when  he  is  placed  in  the  coffin  and 
laid  in  the  earth.  His  name  is  not  effaced  on  earth; 
he  is  remembered  because  of  good.  Such  is  the  exact 
summation  of  the  divine  word."  "...  this  good 
word  which  came  out  of  the  mouth  of  Re  himself: 
*  Speak  the  truth,  do  the  truth.  For  it  is  great,  it  is 
mighty,  it  is  enduring.  The  reward  thereof  shall  find 
thee,  and  it  shall  follow  (thee)  unto  blessedness  here- 
after.' "  The  moral  obligation  which  men  felt  within 
them  became  a  fiat  of  the  god,  their  own  abomination 
of  injustice  soon  became  that  of  the  god,  and  their 
own  moral  ideals,  thus  becoming  likewise  those  of  the 
god,  gained  a  new  mandatory  power. 

It  was  now  not  only  religious  belief  and  social 
axiom,  but  also  formally  announced  royal  policy,  that 
before  the  bar  of  justice  the  great  and  the  powerful 
must  expect  the  same  treatment  and  the  same  verdict 
accorded  to  the  poor  and  the  friendless.  Here  then 
ended  the  special  and  peculiar  claim  of  the  great  and 
powerful  to  consideration  and  to  felicity  in  the  here- 
after, and  the  democratization  of  blessedness  beyond 
the  grave  began.  A  friendless  peasant  pleading  with 
a  great  lord  for  justice,  says  to  him,  *'  Beware !  Eter- 
nity approaches."  Ameni,  a  great  lord  of  Benihasan, 
sets  forth  upon  his  tomb  door  the  record  of  social 
justice  in  his  treatment  of  all  as  the  best  passport 
he  can  devise  for  the  long  journey.  Over  and  over 
again  the  men  of  the  Feudal  Age  reiterate  in  their 
tombs  their  claims  to  righteousness  of  character. 
*'  Sesenebnef  (the  deceased)  has  done  righteousness, 
his  abomination  was  evil,  he  saw  it  not,"  says  an  offi- 
cial of  the  time  on  his  sarcophagus.  The  mortuary 
texts  which  fill  the  cedar  coffins  of  this  age  show 
clearly  that  the  consciousness  of  moral  responsibility  in 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  61 

the  hereafter  has  greatly  deepened  since  the  Pyramid 
Age.  The  balances  of  justice  to  which  the  peasant 
just  mentioned  appealed  so  often  and  so  dramatically 
were  now  really  finding  place  in  the  drama  of  justifica- 
tion hereafter.  "  The  doors  of  the  sky  are  opened  to 
thy  beauty,"  says  one  to  the  deceased ;  "  thou  ascend- 
est,  thou  seest  Hathor.  Thy  evil  is  expelled,  thy  in- 
iquity is  wiped  away,  by  those  who  weigh  with  the 
balances  on  the  day  of  reckoning."  The  conviction 
was  now  universal  that  every  soul  must  meet  this 
ethical  ordeal  in  the  hereafter.  It  now  became,  or 
let  us  say  that  at  the  advent  of  the  Middle  Kingdom 
it  had  become,  the  custom  to  append  to  the  name  of 
every  deceased  person  the  epithet  "  justified." 

The  scepticism  toward  preparations  for  the  here- 
after involving  a  massive  tomb  and  elaborate  mortu- 
ary furniture,  the  pessimistic  recognition  of  the  futility 
of  material  equipment  for  the  dead,  pronounced  as  we 
have  seen  these  tendencies  to  be  in  the  Feudal  Age, 
were,  nevertheless,  but  an  eddy  in  the  broad  current 
of  Egyptian  life.  As  the  felicity  of  the  departed  was 
democratized,  the  common  people  took  up  and  con- 
tinued the  old  mortuary  usages,  and  the  development 
and  elaboration  of  such  customs  went  on  without 
heeding  the  eloquent  silence  and  desolation  that  reigned 
on  the  pyramid  plateau  and  in  the  cemeteries  of  the 
fathers. 

It  is  not  until  this  Feudal  Age  that  we  gain  any  full 
impression  of  the  picturesque  customs  connected  with 
the  dead,  the  observance  of  which  was  now  so  deeply 
rooted  in  the  life  of  the  people.  The  tombs  still  sur- 
viving in  the  baronies  of  Upper  Egypt  have  preserved 
some  memorials  of  the  daily  and  customary,  as  well 
as  of  the  ceremonial  and  festival,  usages  with  which 
the  people  thought  to  brighten  and  render  more  at- 


52         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

tractive  the  life  of  those  who  had  passed  on.  We  find 
the  same  precautions  taken  by  the  nobles  which  we  ob- 
served in  the  Pyramid  Age. 

The  marvel  is  that  with  their  ancestors'  ruined 
tombs  before  them  they  nevertheless  still  went  on  to 
build  for  themselves  sepulchres  which  were  inevitably 
to  meet  the  same  fate.  The  tomb  of  Khnumhotep,  the 
greatest  of  those  left  us  by  the  Benihasan  lords  of  four 
thousand  years  ago,  bears  on  its  walls,  among  the  beau- 
tiful paintings  which  adorn  them,  the  scribblings  of  a 
hundred  and  twenty  generations  in  Egyptian,  Coptic, 
Greek,  Arabic,  French,  Italian,  English.  The  earliest 
of  these  scrawls  is  that  of  an  Egyptian  scribe  who 
entered  the  tomb-chapel  over  three  thousand  years  ago 
and  wrote  with  reed  pen  and  ink  upon  the  wall  these 
words:  "  The  scribe  Amenmose  came  to  see  the  temple 
of  Khufu  and  found  it  like  the  heavens  when  the  sun 
rises  therein."  The  chapel  was  some  seven  hundred 
years  old  when  this  scribe  entered  it,  and  its  owner,  al- 
though one  of  the  greatest  lords  of  his  time,  was  so 
completely  forgotten  that  the  visitor,  finding  the  name 
of  Khufu  in  a  casual  geographical  reference  among 
the  inscriptions  on  the  wall,  mistook  the  place  for  a 
chapel  of  Khufu,  the  builder  of  the  Great  Pyramid. 
All  knowledge  of  the  noble  and  of  the  endowments 
which  were  to  support  him  in  the  hereafter  had  disr- 
appeared  in  spite  of  every  precaution.  How  vain  and 
futile  now  appear  the  imprecations  on  these  time- 
stained  walls! 

But  the  Egyptian  was  not  wholly  without  remedy 
even  in  the  face  of  this  dire  contingency.  He  en- 
deavoured to  meet  the  difficulty  by  engraving  on  the 
front  of  his  tomb,  prayers  believed  to  be  ef^cacious  in 
supplying  all  the  needs  of  the  dead  in  the  hereafter. 
All  passers-by  were  solemnly  adjured  to  utter  these 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  53 

prayers  on  behalf  of  the  dead.  The  belief  in  the  ef- 
fectiveness of  the  uttered  word  on  behalf  of  the  dead 
had  developed  enormously  since  the  Old  Kingdom. 
This  is  a  development  which  accompanies  the  populari- 
zation of  the  mortuary  customs  of  the  upper  classes. 
In  the  Pyramid  Age,  as  we  have  seen,  such  utterances 
were  confined  to  the  later  pyramids.  These  concern 
exclusively  the  destiny  of  the  Pharaoh  in  the  here- 
after. They  were  now  largely  appropriated  by  the 
middle  and  the  official  class.  At  the  same  time  there 
emerge  similar  utterances,  identical  in  function  but 
evidently  more  suited  to  the  needs  of  common  mor- 
tals. These  represent,  then,  a  body  of  similar  mortu- 
ary literature  among  the  people  of  the  Feudal  Age, 
some  fragments  of  which  are  much  older  than  this  age. 
Later  the  Book  of  the  Dead  was  made  up  of  selec- 
tions from  the  humbler  and  more  popular  mortuary 
literature.  Copious  extracts  from  both  the  Pyramid 
Texts  and  these  forerunners  of  the  Book  of  the  Dead, 
about  half  from  each  of  the  two  sources,  were  now 
written  on  the  inner  surfaces  of  the  heavy  cedar  cof- 
fins, in  which  the  better  burials  of  this  age  are  found. 
The  number  of  such  mortuary  texts  is  still  constantly 
increasing  as  additional  coffins  from  this  age  are 
found.  Every  local  coffin-maker  was  furnished  by  the 
priests  of  his  town  with  copies  of  these  utterances. 
Before  the  coffins  were  put  together,  the  scribes  in  the 
maker's  employ  filled  the  Inner  surfaces  with  pen- 
and-ink  copies  of  such  texts  as  he  had  available.  It 
was  all  done  with  great  carelessness  and  inaccuracy, 
the  effort  being  to  fill  up  the  planks  as  fast  as  possible. 
They  often  wrote  the  same  chapter  over  twice  or  three 
times  in  the  same  coffin,  and  in  one  instance  a  chapter 
is  found  no  less  than  five  times  in  the  same  coffin. 
While  the  destiny,  everywhere  so  evidently  royal  in 


54         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  Pyramid  Texts,  has  thus  become  the  portion  of 
any  one,  the  simpler  Hfe  of  the  humbler  citizen  which 
he  longed  to  see  continued  in  the  hereafter  is  quite  dis- 
cernible, also  in  these  Coffin  Texts.  As  he  lay  in  his 
coffin  he  could  read  a  chapter  which  concerned  ''  Build- 
ing a  house  for  a  man  in  the  Nether  World,  digging  a 
pool  and  planting  fruit-trees."  Once  supplied  with  a 
house,  surrounded  by  a  garden  with  its  pool  and  its 
shade-trees,  the  dead  man  must  be  assured  that  he  will 
be  able  to  occupy  it,  and  hence  a  "  chapter  of  a  man's 
being  in  his  house."  The  lonely  sojourn  there  without 
the  companionship  of  family  and  friends  was  an  intol- 
erable thought,  and  hence  a  further  chapter  entitled 
"  Sealing  of  a  Decree  concerning  the  Household,  to 
give  the  Household  [to  a  man]  in  the  Nether  World." 
A  tendency  which  later  came  fully  to  its  own  in  the 
Book  of  the  Dead  is  already  the  dominant  tendency  in 
these  Coffin  Texts.  It  regards  the  hereafter  as  a  place 
of  innumerable  dangers  and  ordeals,  most  of  them  of 
a  physical  nature,  although  they  sometimes  concern 
also  the  intellectual  equipment  of  the  deceased.  The 
weapon  to  be  employed  and  the  surest  means  of  de- 
fense available  to  the  deceased  was  some  magical 
agency,  usually  a  charm  to  be  pronounced  at  the  criti- 
cal moment.  This  tendency  then  inclined  to  make  the 
Coffin  Texts,  and  ultimately  the  Book  of  the  Dead 
which  grew  out  of  them,  more  and  more  a  collection 
of  charms,  which  were  regarded  as  inevitably  effective 
in  protecting  the  dead  or  securing  for  him  any  of  the 
blessings  which  were  desired  in  the  life  beyond  the 
grave.  But  the  imagination  of  the  priests,  who  could 
only  gain  by  the  issuance  of  ever  new  chapters,  un- 
doubtedly contributed  much  to  heighten  the  popular 
dread  of  the  dangers  of  the  hereafter  and  spread  the 
belief  in  the  usefulness  of  such  means  for  meeting 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  55 

them.  The  beHef  in  the  efficacy  of  magic  as  an  infal- 
lible agent  in  the  hand  of  the  dead  man  was  thus  stead- 
ily growing,  and  we  shall  see  it  ultimately  dominating 
the  whole  body  of  mortuary  belief  as  it  emerges  a  few 
centuries  later  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead. 

Powerful  as  the  Osiris  faith  had  been  in  the  Pyra- 
mid Age,  its  wide  popularity  now  surpassed  anything 
before  known.  The  blessings  which  the  Osirian  des- 
tiny in  the  hereafter  offered  to  all  proved  an  attraction 
of  universal  power.  Although  they  had  once  been  an 
exclusively  royal  prerogative,  as  was  the  Solar  destiny 
in  the  Pyramid  Texts,  even  the  royal  Solar  hereafter 
had  now  been  appropriated  by  all.  One  of  the  ancient 
tombs  of  the  Thinite  kings  at  Abydos,  a  tomb  now 
thirteen  or  fourteen  hundred  years  old,  had  by  this 
time  come  to  be  regarded  as  the  tomb  of  Osiris.  It 
rapidly  became  the  Holy  Sepulchre  of  Egypt,  to  which 
all  classes  pilgrimaged.  There  must  eventually  have 
been  multitudes  of  these  pilgrims,  especially  at  that 
season  when  in  the  earliest  known  drama  the  incidents 
of  the  god's  myth  were  dramatically  reenacted  in  what 
may  properly  be  called  a  "  passion  play."  Thus  while 
the  supremacy  of  Re  was  a  political  triumph,  that  of 
Osiris,  while  unquestionably  fostered  by  an  able  priest- 
hood probably  practising  constant  propaganda,  was  a 
triumph  of  popular  faith  among  all  classes  of  society,  a 
triumph  which  not  even  the  court  and  the  nobles  were 
able  to  resist. 

In  all  this  popular  movement  the  magic  of  daily  life 
was  more  and  more  brought  to  bear  on  the  hereafter 
and  placed  at  the  service  of  the  dead.  As  the  Empire 
rose  in  the  sixteenth  century  B.  c,  we  find  folk-charms 
drawn  from  the  life  of  this  world  serving  among  the 
mortuary  texts  inserted  in  the  tomb.  A  charm  by 
which  a  mother,  soothing  her  baby  as  darkness  gath- 


56         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

ered,  prevented  an  evil  demon  from  stealing  away  the 
child,  appears  as  a  mortuary  charm  entitled:  "  Chapter 
of  Not  Permitting  a  Man's  Heart  to  be  Taken  Away 
from  Him  in  the  Nether  World,"  a  chapter  already 
found  in  the  Coffin  Texts  of  the  Middle  Kingdom. 
These  charms  now  greatly  increased  in  number,  and 
each  was  given  a  title  indicating  just  what  it  was  in- 
tended to  accomplish  for  the  deceased.  Combined  with 
some  of  the  old  hymns  of  praise  to  Re  and  Osiris, 
which  might  be  recited  at  the  funeral,  and  usually  in- 
cluding also  some  account  of  the  judgment,  these  mor- 
tuary texts  were  now  written  on  a  roll  of  papyrus  and 
deposited  with  the  dead  in  the  tomb.  It  is  these 
papyri  which  have  now  commonly  come  to  be  called 
the  Book  of  the  Dead.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  was 
in  the  Empire  no  uniform  selection  of  texts  making  up 
this  book.  Each  roll  contained  a  random  collection  of 
such  mortuary  texts  as  the  scribal  copyist  happened 
to  have  at  hand,  or  those  which  he  found  enabled  him 
best  to  sell  his  rolls ;  that  is,  such  as  enjoyed  the  great- 
est popularity.  There  were  sumptuous  and  splendid 
rolls,  sixty  to  eighty  feet  long,  containing  from  sev- 
enty-five to  as  many  as  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  or 
thirty  chapters.  On  the  other  hand,  the  scribes  also 
copied  small  and  modest  rolls  but  a  few  feet  in  length, 
bearing  but  a  meagre  selection  of  the  more  important 
chapters.  Consequently  no  two  rolls  exhibit  the  same 
collection  of  charms  and  chapters  throughout,  and  it 
was  not  until  the  Ptolemaic  period,  from  the  third  cen- 
tury B.  c.  onward,  that  a  more  nearly  canonical  selec- 
tion of  chapters  was  gradually  introduced.  It  will  be 
seen,  then,  as  we  have  said,  that,  properly  speaking, 
there  was  in  the  Empire  no  Book  of  the  Dead,  but  only 
various  groups  of  mortuary  papyri  of  the  time.  The 
entire  body  of  chapters  from  which  these  rolls  were 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  57 

made  up,  were  some  two  hundred  in  number,  although 
even  the  largest  rolls  did  not  contain  them  all.  Groups 
of  chapters  forming  the  most  common  nucleus  of  the 
Book  of  the  Dead  were  frequently  called  "  Chapters 
of  Ascending  by  Day,"  a  designation  also  in  use  in  the 
Coffin  Texts ;  but  there  was  no  current  title  for  a  roll 
of  the  Book  of  the  Dead  as  a  whole. 

While  the  Book  of  the  Dead  is  largely  made  up  of 
magical  charms,  that  which  saves  it  from  being  ex- 
clusively a  magical  Vade  mcciini  for  use  in  the  here- 
after is  its  elaboration  of  the  ancient  idea  of  the  moral 
judgment,  and  its  evident  appreciation  of  the  burden 
of  conscience.  To  this  inner  voice  of  the  heart,  which 
with  surprising  insight  was  even  termed  a  man's  god, 
the  Egyptian  was  now  more  sensitive  than  ever  before 
during  the  long  course  of  the  ethical  evolution  which 
we  have  been  following.  This  sensitiveness  finds  very 
full  expression  in  the  account  of  the  judgment,  the 
most  important  if  not  the  longest  section  of  the  Book 
of  the  Dead.  Whereas  the  judgment  hereafter  is 
mentioned  as  far  back  as  the  Pyramid  Age,  we  now 
find  a  very  full  account  and  description  of  it  in  the 
Book  of  the  Dead.  The  judge  Osiris  is  assisted  by 
forty-two  gods  who  sit  with  him  in  judgment  on  the 
dead.  They  are  terrifying  demons,  each  bearing  a 
grotesque  and  horrible  name,  which  the  deceased 
claims  that  he  knows.  He  therefore  addresses  them 
one  after  the  other  by  name.  They  are  such  names 
as  these:  "  Broad-Stride-that-Came-out-of-Heliopo- 
lis,"  "Flame  -  Hugger  -  that  -  Came  -  out  -  of  -  Troja," 
"  Nosey-that-Came-out-of-Hermopolis,"  "  Shadow- 
Eater- that-Came-out-of-the-Cave." 

It  is  evident  that  the  forty-two  gods  are  an  artificial 
creation.  As  was  long  ago  noticed,  they  represent  the 
forty  or  more  nomes,  or  administrative  districts,  of 


58         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

Egypt.  The  priests  doubtless  built  up  this  court  of 
forty- two  judges  in  order  to  control  the  character  of 
the  dead  from  all  quarters  of  the  country.  The  de- 
ceased would  find  himself  confronted  by  one  judge  at 
least  who  was  acquainted  with  his  local  reputation,  and 
who  could  not  be  deceived.  To  each  one  of  these 
forty-two  judges  the  deceased  addressed  a  plea  of 
"  not  guilty  "  of  some  particular  sin.  The  editors  had 
some  difficulty  in  finding  enough  sins  to  make  up  a 
list  of  forty-two,  and  there  are  several  verbal  repeti- 
tions with  slight  changes  in  the  wording.  These  forty- 
two  pleas  of  not  guilty  may  be  divided  into  four 
groups.  The  crimes  which  may  be  called  those  of  (I) 
violence  are  these:  "  I  did  not  slay  men  (5),  I  did  not 
rob  (2),  I  did  not  steal  (4),  I  did  not  rob  one  crying 
for  his  possessions  (18),  my  fortune  was  not  great 
but  by  my  (own)  property  (41),  I  did  not  take  away 
food  (10),  I  did  not  stir  up  fear  (31),  I  did  not  stir 
up  strife  (25)."  (II)  Deceit  fulness  and  other  unde- 
sirable qualities  of  character  are  also  disavowed:  "I 
did  not  speak  lies  (9),  I  did  not  make  falsehood  in 
the  place  of  truth  (40),  I  was  not  deaf  to  truthful 
words  (24),  I  did  not  diminish  the  grain-measure 
(6),  I  was  not  avaricious  (3),  my  heart  devoured 
not  (coveted  not?)  (28),  my  heart  was  not  hasty 
(31),  I  did  not  multiply  words  in  speaking  (33),  my 
voice  was  not  over  loud  (37),  my  mouth  did  not  wag 
(lit.  go)  (17),  I  did  not  wax  hot  (in  temper)  (23), 
I  did  not  revile  (29),  I  was  not  an  eavesdropper  (16), 
I  was  not  puffed  up  (39)."  The  dead  man  is  free 
from  (III)  sexual  immorality:  "I  did  not  commit 
adultery,  with  a  woman  (19),  I  did  not  commit  self- 
pollution  (20,  27);"  and  (IV)  ceremonial  transgres- 
sions are  also  denied:  "  I  did  not  revile  the  king  (35), 
I  did  not  blaspheme  the  god  (38),  I  did  not  slay  the 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  59 

divine  bull  (13),  I  did  not  steal  temple  endowment 
(8),  I  did  not  diminish  food  in  the  temple  (15),  I  did 
not  do  an  abomination  of  the  gods  (43)."  These, 
with  several  repetitions  and  some  that  are  unintelli- 
gible, make  up  this  declaration  of  innocence. 

This  section  of  the  Book  of  the  Dead  is  commonly 
called  the  "  Confession."  It  would  be  difficult  to  de- 
vise a  term  more  opposed  to  the  real  character  of  the 
dead  man's  statement,  which  as  a  declaration  of  inno- 
cence is,  of  course,  the  reverse  of  a  confession.  The 
ineptitude  of  the  designation  has  become  so  evident 
that  some  editors  have  added  the  word  "negative," 
and  thus  call  it  the  "negative  confession,"  which 
means  nothing  at  all.  The  Egyptian  does  not  confess 
at  this  judgment,  and  this  is  a  fact  of  the  utmost  im- 
portance in  his  religious  development.  To  mistake 
this  section  of  the  Book  of  the  Dead  for  "  confession  " 
is  totally  to  misunderstand  the  development  which  was 
now  slowly  carrying  him  toward  that  complete  ac- 
knowledgment and  humble  disclosure  of  his  sin  which 
is  nowhere  found  in  the  Book  of  the  Dead. 

Another  record  of  the  judgment  was  doubtless  the 
version  which  made  the  deepest  impression  upon  the 
Egyptian.  Like  the  drama  of  Osiris  at  Abydos,  it  is 
graphic  and  depicts  the  judgment  as  effected  by  the 
balances.  In  the  sumptuously  illustrated  papyrus  of 
Ani  we  see  Osiris  sitting  enthroned  at  one  end  of  the 
judgment  hall,  with  Isis  and  Nephthys  standing  be- 
hind him.  Along  one  side  of  the  hall  are  ranged  the 
nine  gods  of  the  Heliopolitan  Ennead,  headed  by  the 
Sun-god.  They  afterward  announce  the  verdict, 
showing  the  originally  Solar  origin  of  this  scene  of 
judgment,  in  which  Osiris  has  now  assumed  the  chief 
place.  In  the  midst  stand  "  the  balances  of  Re  where- 
with he  weighs  truth,"  as  we  have  seen  them  called  in 


60         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

the   Feudal  Age;  but  the  judgment  in  which  they 
figure  has  now  become  Osirianized. 

At  the  critical  moment  Ani  addresses  his  own  heart: 
"  O  my  heart  that  came  from  my  mother !  O  my 
heart  belonging  to  my  being !  Rise  not  up  against  me 
as  a  witness."  Evidently  the  appeal  has  proven  ef- 
fective, for  Thoth,  "  envoy  of  the  Great  Ennead,  that 
is  in  the  presence  of  Osiris,"  at  once  says:  "  Hear  ye 
this  word  in  truth.  I  have  judged  the  heart  of  Osiris 
[Ani].  His  soul  stands  as  a  witness  concerning  him, 
his  character  is  just  by  the  great  balances.  No  sin 
of  his  has  been  found."  The  Nine  Gods  of  the  En- 
nead at  once  respond.  "  How  good  it  is,  this  which 
comes  forth  from  thy  just  mouth.  Osiris  Ani,  the 
justified,  witnesses.  There  is  no  sin  of  his,  there  is  no 
evil  of  his  with  us.  The  Devouress  shall  not  be  given 
power  over  him.  Let  there  be  given  to  him  the  bread 
that  cometh  forth  before  Osiris,  the  domain  that  abid- 
eth  in  the  field  of  offerings,  like  the  Followers  of 
Horus." 

These  accounts  of  the  judgment,  in  spite  of  the 
grotesque  appurtenances  with  which  the  priests  of  the 
times  have  embellished  them,  are  not  without  impres- 
siveness  even  to  the  modern  beholder  as  he  contem- 
plates these  rolls  of  three  thousand  five  hundred  years 
ago,  and  realizes  that  these  scenes  are  the  graphic  ex- 
pression of  the  sam^  moral  consciousness,  of  the  same 
admonishing  voice  within,  to  which  we  still  feel  our- 
selves amenable.  Ani  importunes  his  heart  not  to  be- 
tray him,  and  his  cry  finds  an  echo  down  all  the  ages 
in  such  words  as  those  of  Richard: 


"  My  conscience  hath  a  thousand  several  tongues, 
And  every  tongue  brings  in  a  several  tale, 
And  every  tale  condemns  me  for  a  villain." 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  61 

The  Egyptian  heard  the  same  voice,  feared  it,  and 
endeavoured  to  silence  it.  He  strove  to  still  the  voice 
of  the  heart;  he  did  not  yet  confess,  but  insistently 
maintained  his  innocence.  The  next  step  in  his  higher 
development  was  humbly  to  disclose  the  consciousness 
of  guilt  to  his  god.  That  step  he  later  took.  But  an- 
other force  intervened  and  greatly  hampered  the  com- 
plete emancipation  of  his  conscience.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  this  Osirian  judgment  thus  graphically  por- 
trayed and  the  universal  reverence  for  Osiris  in  the 
Empire  had  much  to  do  with  spreading  the  belief  in 
moral  responsibility  beyond  the  grave,  and  in  giving 
general  currency  to  those  ideas  of  the  supreme  value 
of  moral  worthiness  which  we  find  among  the  moral- 
ists and  social  philosophers  of  the  Pharaoh's  court  sev- 
eral centuries  earlier,  in  the  Feudal  Age.  The  Osiris 
faith  had  thus  become  a  great  power  for  righteousness 
among  the  people.  While  the  Osirian  destiny  was 
open  to  all,  nevertheless  all  must  prove  themselves 
morally  acceptable  to  him. 

Had  the  priests  left  the  matter  thus,  all  would  have 
been  well.  Unhappily,  however,  the  development  of 
the  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  magic  in  the  next  world 
continued.  All  material  blessings,  as  we  have  seen, 
might  infallibly  be  attained  by  the  use  of  the  proper 
charm.  Even  the  less  tangible  mental  equipment,  the 
"  heart,"  meaning  the  understanding,  might  also  be  re- 
stored by  magical  agencies.  It  was  inevitable  that  the 
priests  should  now  take  the  momentous  step  of  per- 
mitting such  agencies  to  enter  also  the  world  of  moral 
values.  Magic  might  become  an  agent  for  moral  ends. 
The  Book  of  the  Dead  is  chiefly  a  book  of  magical 
charms,  and  the  section  pertaining  to  the  judgment  did 
not  continue  to  remain  an  exception.  The  poignant 
words  addressed  by  Ani  to  his  heart  as  it  was  weighed 


62         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

in  the  balances,  "  O  my  heart  rise  not  up  against  me 
as  a  witness,"  were  now  written  upon  a  stone  image 
of  the  sacred  beetle,  the  scarabeus,  and  placed  over  the 
heart  as  a  mandate  of  magical  potency  preventing  the 
heart  from  betraying  the  character  of  the  deceased. 
The  words  of  this  charm  became  a  chapter  of  the  Book 
of  the  Dead,  where  they  bore  the  title,  "  Chapter  of 
Preventing  that  the  Heart  of  a  Man  Oppose  him  in 
the  Nether  World."  The  scenes  of  the  judgment  and 
the  text  of  the  Declaration  of  Innocence  were  multi- 
plied on  rolls  by  the  scribes  and  sold  to  all  the  people. 
In  these  copies  the  places  for  the  name  of  the  deceased 
were  left  vacant,  and  the  purchaser  filled  in  the  blanks 
after  he  had  secured  the  document.  The  words  of 
the  verdict,  declaring  the  deceased  had  successfully 
met  the  judgment  and  acquitting  him  of  evil,  were  not 
lacking  in  any  of  these  rolls.  Any  citizen,  whatever 
the  character  of  his  life,  might  thus  secure  from  the 
scribes  a  certificate  declaring  that  Blank  was  a  right- 
eous man  before  it  was  known  who  Blank  would  be. 
He  might  even  obtain  a  formulary  so  mighty  that  the 
Sun-god,  as  the  real  power  behind  the  judgment,  would 
be  cast  down  from  heaven  into  the  Nile  if  he  did  not 
bring  forth  the  deceased  fully  justified  before  his 
court.  Thus  the  earliest  moral  development  which  we 
can  trace  in  the  ancient  East  was  suddenly  arrested,  or 
at  least  seriously  checked,  by  the  detestable  devices  of 
a  corrupt  priesthood  eager  for  gain. 

It  is  needless  to  point  out  the  confusion  of  distinc- 
tions involved  in  this  last  application  of  magic.  It  is 
the  old  failure  to  perceive  the  difference  between  that 
which  goeth  in  and  that  which  cometh  out  of  the  man. 
A  justification  mechanically  applied  from  without,  and 
freeing  the  man  from  punishments  coming  from  with- 
out, cannot,  of  course,  heal  the  ravages  that  have 


ANCIENT  EGYPTIAN  IDEAS  63 

taken  place  within.  The  voice  within,  to  which  the 
Egyptian  was  more  sensitive  than  any  people  of  the 
earlier  East,  and  to  which  the  whole  idea  of  the  moral 
ordeal  in  the  hereafter  was  due,  could  not  be  quieted 
by  any  such  means.  Nevertheless  the  general  reliance 
upon  such  devices  for  escaping  ultimate  responsibility 
for  an  unworthy  life  must  have  seriously  poisoned  the 
life  of  the  people.  While  the  Book  of  the  Dead  dis- 
closes to  us  more  fully  than  ever  before  in  the  history 
of  Egypt  the  character  of  the  moral  judgment  in  the 
hereafter,  and  the  reality  with  which  the  Egyptian 
clothed  his  conception  of  moral  responsibility,  it  is  like- 
wise a  revelation  of  ethical  decadence.  In  so  far  as 
the  Book  of  the  Dead  had  become  a  magical  agency 
for  securing  moral  vindication  in  the  hereafter,  irre- 
spective of  character,  it  had  become  a  positive  force 
for  evil. 

In  the  days  of  the  Greek  kings,  the  Osirian  faith 
finally  submerged  the  venerable  Sun-god,  with  whose 
name  the  greatest  movements  in  the  history  of  Egyp- 
tian religion  were  associated,  and  when  the  Roman 
emperor  became  an  Oriental  Sun-god,  sol  invictus,  the 
process  was  in  large  measure  due  to  the  influence  of 
Asiatic  Solar  religion  rather  than  to  the  Solar 
Pharaoh,  who,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  Pyramid  Texts, 
had  been  sovereign  and  Sun-god  at  the  same  time 
many  centuries  before  such  doctrines  are  discernible  in 
Asia.  Whether  they  are  in  Asia  the  result  of 
Egyptian  influence  is  a  question  still  to  be  investi- 
gated. In  any  case,  as  Osiris-Apis  or  Serapis, 
Osiris  gained  the  supreme  place  in  the  popular 
as  well  as  the  state  religion,  and  through  him  the 
subterranean  hereafter,  rather  than  the  Sun-god's 
glorious  celestial  kingdom  of  the  dead,  passed  over 
into  the  Roman  world.     There  is  not  space  here  to 


64         BELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

discuss  the  influence  of  Egyptian  ideas  of  the  here- 
after in  the  gradual  spread  of  Christianity,  but  it  is 
significant  to  note  the  recent  discovery  of  a  tomb  in 
Upper  Egypt  containing  a  painting  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  Osiris,  in  which  the  god  is  depicted  in  the  form 
of  a  fish,  lying  on  the  bier.  It  is  evident  that  the  fish 
as  used  in  Christian  symbolism  suggested  far  more 
than  five  initial  letters,  and  the  discovery  is  obviously 
additional  evidence  of  the  influence  of  Osirian  religion 
on  Christian  ideas  of  the  resurrection. 


Ill 

IMMORTALITY  IN  INDIA 
E.  Washburn  Hopkins 

FIFTY  years  ago  it  was  generally  assumed  that 
if  several  branches  of  the  Aryan  race  possessed 
any  one  belief,  that  belief  must  have  been  pre- 
historical,  reverting  to  the  period  when  Hindu,  Greek, 
and  Irish  made  one  happy  family.  Thus,  because  these 
three  peoples  spoke  of  an  existence  beyond  the  grave, 
belief  in  such  an  existence  was  said  to  be  "  primitive 
Aryan."  Doubtless  such  was  the  case,  but  not  on  this 
account,  for  the  argument  failed  to  recognize  that  in 
this  as  in  many  similar  cases  different  human  groups 
may  arrive  independently  at  the  same  conclusion.  In 
this  particular  instance,  since  few  savages  are  so  lack- 
ing in  imagination  as  not  to  believe  in  ghosts,  it  is 
most  probable  that  the  primitive  Aryans  (if  as  a  group 
they  ever  existed,  which  is  matter  of  dubiety)  did  be- 
lieve that  there  is  a  life  beyond  the  grave. 

A  more  serious  error  in  the  ratiocination  of  a  half 
century  ago  was  the  assumption  that  belief  in  a  life 
beyond  the  grave  implied  belief  in  immortality.  But 
the  two  beliefs  are  by  no  means  identical.  Thousands 
of  savages  think  that,  though  they  will  live  hereafter, 
their  after-life  will  be  short;  the  surviving  ghost  will 
die  again  once  for  all,  or  will  be  devoured  of  the  gods. 
Others  opine  that  only  a  few  favoured  or  highly- 
gifted  individual  souls  will  continue  to  live  for  a  time, 

65 


66         EELIGIOK  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

while  the  mass  of  those  who  die  will  at  once,  or  soon, 
cease  to  exist,  evaporating  forever.  There  are  thus 
sundry  varieties  of  belief  in  a  future  life  that  do  not 
necessarily  involve  the  notion  of  immortality.  Even 
when  that  notion  and  the  word  for  it  are  current,  \Jl 
does  not  follow  that  "  immortality "  is  regarded  as 
inevitably  associated  with  the  future  of  a  human  being. 
The  religious  ideas  of  the  people  now  called  Hindus 
are  contained  in  documents  dating  from  various  pe- 
riods, the  oldest  document  (not  yet  a  writing)  being 
the  Hymns  of  the  Rig  Veda,  which  reflect  the  faith 
of  the  second  millennium  b.  c.  Later  Vedas,  such  as 
the  Atharva  Veda,  and  their  prose  Brahmanas  portray 
the  beliefs  of  the  first  half  of  the  first  millennium,  be- 
fore Buddhism  arose  in  the  sixth  century.  The  Upan- 
ishads,  in  the  main  contemporary  with  or  slightly 
earlier  than  the  first  Buddhistic  period,  already  reveal, 
though  in  a  crude  form,  a  fully  developed  belief  in  an 
All-Soul,  whereof  man's  soul  is  a  part  and  hence,  like 
the  All-Soul,  is  immortal.  Thereafter,  the  doctrine  of 
immortality  was  concerned  with  the  relation  existing 
between  the  soul  of  the  individual  and  the  All-Soul,  or, 
since  the  monistic  doctrine  was  not  universal  but  was 
opposed  by  a  dualistic  conception,  which  admitted  two 
immortal  elements,  the  individual  soul  and  matter,  it 
was  concerned  with  the  relation  existing  between  this 
soul  and  matter ;  but  in  both  views  the  individual  soul 
was  immortal.  At  the  same  time,  however,  there  was 
a  strong  tendency,  reaching  back  into  remote  ages,  to 
interpret  the  philosophic  All-Soul  in  a  religious  rather 
than  in  a  logically  philosophical  way,  to  deny  that  it 
was  without  attributes,  to  endow  it  with  personality; 
in  short  to  regard  the  All-Soul  as  God,  the  creator, 
and  preserver,  a  Divine  Being  who  had  for  man  a 
fatherly  regard  and  to  whom  man's  soul  after  death 


IMMOETALITT  IN  INDIA  67 

would  return;  whether  to  be  absorbed  into  the  Divine 
Being  or  to  live  with  it  as  a  distinct  individual  soul, 
was  matter  of  theological  debate. 

The  belief  in  immortality,  of  course,  represents 
these  various  phases  from  the  human  point  of  view. 
The  doctrine  of  immortality  once  established,  as  in 
some  form  or  other  it  was  established  in  the  earliest 
period,  persisted  and  has  never  ceased  to  be  a  potent 
element  in  Hindu  religious  life,  fighting  its  way 
through  the  brief  opposition  of  those  radicals  who 
maintained  as  early  as  the  sixth  century  before  Christ 
that  "  soul "  was  only  a  form  of  matter  answering  to 
fermentation,  and  successfully  persisting  through  the 
period  when  the  concept  "  soul  "  was  reinterpreted  by 
Buddha  as  a  physical  complex  held  together  only  by 
"  desire,"  and  immortality,  as  usually  conceived,  was 
regarded  as  a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing. 

For  the  first  belief  of  the  Hindus,  or  of  those 
Aryans  who  later  became  Hindus,  the  Rig  Veda  is  of 
course  the  paramount  authority.  This  work,  consist- 
ing of  more  than  a  thousand  devotional  songs,  with 
some  admixture  of  worldly  poems,  is  a  collection  rep- 
resenting widely  different  views  developed  during  cen- 
turies of  growth.  It  is  in  the  later  parts  of  the  work 
that  allusions  to  human  immortality  are  most  com- 
mon. Three-quarters  of  the  actual  instances  of  the 
use  of  the  word  itself  as  applied  to  man  are  found  in 
the  later  hymns.  As  for  the  gods,  they  were  from 
the  beginning  briefly  characterized  as  "the  immor- 
tals." The  word  "  immortal "  was  synonymous  with 
Deva  (deus),  as  "mortal"  was  synonymous  with 
man.  "  All  the  immortals  "  is  a  phrase  used  occa- 
sionally in  the  sense  "  all  the  gods."  Between  gods 
and  men  is  recognized  a  class  of  active  beings  who 
were  at  first  mortal  but,  owing  to  their  good  works. 


68         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

apparently  in  regulating  the  seasons,  they  ''  attained 
to  immortality,"  which  is  the  same  as  saying  "  became 
gods." 

These  are  the  Ribhus,  whom  some  scholars  identify 
phonetically  with  our  ''  elves."  The  language  used  in 
regard  to  their  deification  is,  with  the  exception  of  one 
passage,  virtually  the  same:  "  These,  although  mortal, 
got  immortality  (variant  "attained godhead")  through 
their  work."  '  The  exception  comes  in  a  presumably 
late  hymn  where,  although  the  same  statement  is  made 
as  elsewhere,  namely  that  the  Ribhus  got  immortality 
through  their  work,  it  is  prefixed  by  the  apparently 
contradictory  statement  that  Savitar,  the  inspiring  god, 
inspired  their  immortality,  or  as  it  is  sometimes  ren- 
dered, "  gave  them  immortality."  '  But  Savitar  as  the 
abstract  energizer  or  inspirer  may  be  said  to  have  given 
them  energy,  which  resulted  in  their  successful  work 
being  rewarded,  without  an  actual  contradiction  of  the 
received  notion  that  their  work  was  the  cause  of  their 
immortality.  The  passage  is  not  without  importance 
because  it  shows  an  early  tendency  to  attribute  mortal 
happiness  hereafter  to  a  special  act  of  a  divine  power 
as  contrasted  with  the  compelling  power  of  a  man's 
good  works  to  attain  the  same  result.  The  same 
phrase  is  used  of  Savitar  as  Inspiring  or  energizing 
the  gods  themselves,  so  that  they  also  are  represented 
in  one  passage  as  owing  immortality,  "  the  highest 
gift,"  to  the  energizing  power  of  Savitar,  who  also 
gives  to  men  "  recurrent  lives." '  This  means  only 
that  to  live  long,  either  as  immortals  or  in  repeated 
generations,  there  must  be  a  corresponding  vital  force 
or  energy,  the  source  of  which  is  here  said  to  be  the 

^  Rig  Veda,  iii.  60,  2-2, ;  iv.  ZZ,  4 ;  ibid.  35,  3,  and  36,  4. 
^Rig  Veda,  i.  no,  3  and  4,  literally,   "the  inspirer  inspired." 
*Rig  Veda,  iv.  54,  2;  "lives  one  after  the  other,"  probably  re- 
fers to  the  passing  generations,  not  to  transmigration-births. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  69 

abstract   divinity   called   the   inspiring   or   energizing 
power  or  god. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  the  notion  of  human  im- 
mortality as  consisting  in  successive  lives  of  genera- 
tions was  current  alongside  of  the  notion  of  life  in 
heaven.  The  Fathers  (ancestral  spirits)  always  be- 
come rather  vague  images  to  the  remote  descendants 
and  it  may  have  been  felt  that  a  man's  truest  immor- 
tality was  in  being  reborn  in  his  children.  There  is  a 
prayer  in  the  Rig  Veda  to  Fire:  **  O  Fire,  I,  the  mor- 
tal, call  upon  thee,  the  immortal,  may  I  obtain  immor- 
tality through  children,'' '  which  implies  desire  for  that 
physical  immortality  of  which  Diotima  speaks  in 
Plato's  Symposium  (page  208).  That  this  notion  per- 
sisted till  a  late  period  is  evident  from  the  legal  litera- 
ture. In  the  aphorisms  of  Apastamba  it  is  stated  that 
the  Sacred  Tradition  says  ''  immortality  is  offspring," 
and  then  a  verse  is  cited:  "  In  thy  offspring  thou  art 
born  again;  that,  mortal,  is  thy  immortality."  '  Again, 
even  in  this  simple  appeal  to  the  Fire-god  (''May  I 
obtain,"  that  is,  from  thee)  there  is  a  distinct  recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  to  the  Vedic  people  immortality 
is  not  inherent  in  man.  The  gift  of  immortality  thus 
physically  understood  is  in  the  power  of  Fire  as  giver 
of  virility,  just  as  Vishnu,  "  the  protector  of  the  seed  " 
is  invoked  with  the  rain-gods  (also  seed-givers)  *  to 
**  give  the  strength  for  progeny."  Perhaps  the  prayer, 
''  O  Maruts,  set  us  in  immortality  "  may  have  the  same 

*Rig  Veda,  v.  4,  10.  Compare  ibid.  ii.  33,  i,  "may  we  be  born 
again  through  children." 

'  Ap.  Dh.  Sutra,  ii.  9,  24  i  (TB.  i.  5,  5,  6:  tad  u  te^  martya 
amritam).  The  perverted  use  made  of  the  quotation  is  to  in- 
terpret it  as  meaning  that  the  Manes  are  kept  aHve  by  the  food 
offered  by  their  descendants.  But  the  original  sense  is  shown  by 
comparing  Vas.  xvii.  if.:  "The  father  obtains  immortaHty  on 
seeing  his  son"  (approved  by  Manu,  ix.137). 

*  Rig  Veda,  vii.  57,  6. 


70  RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

implication/  It  is  at  any  rate  clear  that  man  is  not 
inevitably  immortal.  When  once  he  has  died  he  will, 
so  to  speak,  naturally  keep  on  living,  barring  the  an- 
nihilation which  will  be  his  lot  if  he  has  deeply  of- 
fended the  gods.  All  the  Vedic  prayers  for  immor- 
tality imply  the  consent  of  the  gods  and  that  consent, 
as  is  clear  from  many  passages,  is  not  given  in  the 
case  of  unforgiven  sinners.  These,  instead  of  living 
hereafter,  sink  into  the  "  lap  of  destruction,"  other- 
wise called  "  black  darkness,"  "  the  hole  that  has  no 
hold,"  "  the  pit  below,"  that  is,  a  kind  of  Sheol,  where 
life  evaporates  or  ceases  altogether.  But  in  the  earliest 
period  there  is  no  suggestion  of  corporal  punishment 
in  this  pit  or  of  torment  other  than  this  destruction. 
It  is  therefore  a  kind  of  negative  punishment.  Life 
and  strength  die  and  so  dies  utterly  the  man.  Other 
men,  not  thus  punished,  go  to  heaven  and  that  this 
is  the  expected  event  may  be  seen  from  the  burial 
hymn  which  implies  that  the  soul  or  "  unborn  part," 
after  the  physical  body  has  reverted  to  its  place  of 
origin  (eye  to  the  sun,  breath  to  the  wind,  etc.),  is  to 
go  to  "  the  pleasant  place  in  the  sky  where  the  Fathers 
live  with  the  gods  in  the  third  heaven."  Nevertheless, 
though  the  natural  event  is  the  flight  of  the  soul  to  the 
abode  of  bliss  with  the  Fathers,  it  is  still  a  favour  of 
the  gods  when  the  soul  thus  arrived  is  permitted  to 
stay  there  forever.  Hence  Immortality  is  begged  of 
the  gods  as  casually  as  are  water  and  other  good  gifts. 
*'  O  Mitra  and  Varuna,  we  beg  you  for  rain,  for  bless- 
ings, for  immortality."^  So  the  prayer:  ''May  I  be 
loosed  from  death  as  a  gourd  from  its  stem,  not 
(loosed)  from  immortality.' 


^  Ibid.  vii.  36,  9  and  v.  55,  4.  '  Rig  Veda,  v.  63,  2. 

'  Ibid.    vii.  59,  12.     The  expression  "  having  an  immortal  soul " 
is  used  of  man  first  in  the  later  Atharva  Veda  {mnritasii,  v.  i,  7), 


IMMORTALITY  IN  INDIA  71 

The  men  who  "  get  immortality  "  are  thus  those 
who  please  the  gods.  Now  the  way  to  please  the  gods 
is  to  sacrifice  to  them.  Hence  the  Angirasas,  semi- 
divine  ancestors  of  the  poets,  are  said  to  have  attained 
to  friendship  with  Indra  by  sacrifice  and  sacrificial 
gifts  to  the  priests.'"  This  leads  to  the  next  step,  the 
priestly  generalization  that  "  those  who  give  sacrificial 
gifts  have  a  share  in  immortality." "  Still  more 
bluntly,  with  the  use  of  the  same  phrase,  is  it  said: 
''  Those  who  give  gold  (to  the  priests)  have  a  share 
in  immortality." ''  These  are  the  "  good  works  " 
which,  according  to  later  belief,  give  immortality. 
Another  passage  even  anticipates  the  philosophical 
dictum  ("  one  attains  to  immortality  by  good  works 
or  by  wisdom  ")  in  a  Vedic  form  by  saying  that  those 
who  understand  the  metres  of  the  Rig  Veda  "  attain 
to  immortality." ''  Such  promises  as  these  belong, 
however,  to  the  latest  stage  of  the  Rig  Veda  and  may 
be  regarded  as  a  perversion  on  the  part  of  the  priests 
in  their  own  interest,  of  a  general  and  not  ignoble  idea, 
to  wit,  that  man  must  earn  immortality  through  good 
works.  Even  of  the  gods  it  is  said:  ''They  have 
through  their  worth  attained  to  immortality."  " 

The  Yama  myth  is  more  or  less  concerned  with  the 
question  of  immortality.  Yama  is  the  first  (mortal) 
that  died,  the  ancestor  of  the  human  race,  and  he  is 
represented  as  going  to  heaven,  where  he  sits  under  a 
fair  tree  with  the  high  gods  in  bliss;  and  to  him  go 
the  souls  of  men  upon  the  way  which  Yama  discov- 

in  which  is  found  the  first  mention  of  a  hell,  naraka,  under  its 
usual  later  designation, 

'Uhid.  X.  62,  I.  ^^Ihid.  i.  125,  6.  '- Ihid.  x.  107,  2. 

^^  Ibid.  i.  164,  23.  "Completeness  and  immortality  "are  also  the 
reward   of   works    of    righteousness    in   Zoroastrianism    (Yasna, 

45.  5)- 

"  Rig  Veda,  x.  63,  4.    "  They  made  for  themselves  the  way  to 

Immortality,"  ibid.  i.  72,  9  (cf.  iii-  31.  9)- 


72  EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

ered.''    Hence  men  are  said  to  "  seek  the  immortality 
born  of  Yama."  '' 

Such  in  general  is  the  earliest  view  of  immortality. 
It  is  only  in  the  latest  part  of  the  Rig  Veda  that  specu- 
lation discusses  the  origin  of  things  and  the  time  when 
"there  was  neither  death  nor  immortality,"  as  it  speaks 
of  the  world-spirit  as  "  lord  of  immortality  "  and  says 
that  ''  the  Lord's  shadow  is  immortality  and  death."  " 
And  at  this  period,  though  it  is  not  stated,  as  it  was 
later,  that  the  gods  were  not  immortal  in  the  begin- 
ning, immortality  even  of  the  gods  begins  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  divine  power  of  Fire  or  of  the  intoxicating 
drink  Soma.     "  O  Fire,  through  thy  powers  the  gods 
came  to  immortality,"  says  one  poet,  who  adds  that 
Fire  is  "  the  guardian  of  the  immortal."     Using  the 
same  phrase  another  poet  says  that  the  early  singers,  to 
whom  Soma  gave  strength,  ''  came  to  immortality."  " 
Thus  Fire  itself  says  to  the  gods:  "  I  will  by  sacrifice 
effect  for  you  immortality  and  heroic  power,"  and  the 
gods  are  represented  as  guarding  Fire  as  (their)  im- 
mortality.'"    The  explanation  is  that  Fire  is  the  fire- 
priest  not  only  of  men  but  of  gods,  and  as  men  gain 
immortality  by  sacrifice,  so  must  the  gods.     So  Soma, 
the  divine  intoxicant,  ''  calls  the  divine  race  to  immor- 
tality," or,  as  is  said  elsewhere,  the  gods  became  im- 
mortal through  drinking  Soma,  the  immortal  drink 
(ambrosia).'" 

^^  Ihid.  X.  14,  2.  He  is  thought  of  as  the  first  man,  who,  first 
to  die,  became  the  god  of  death;  later,  he  is  conceived  as  god  of 
hell  and  punishment. 

^Uhid.  i.  83,  5.  "Rig  Veda,  x.  129,  2;  90,  2;  121,  2. 

"  Ihid.  vi.  7,  4,  7 ;  ix.  94,  4-  '"  ^^^"^^  x.  52,  5  I  i-  96,  6. 

'"  Rig  Veda,  ix.  108,  3 ;  compare  ihid.  106,  8 :  "  The  gods  drank 
thee,  O  Soma,  for  immortality."  In  Rig  Veda,  iv.  58,  i,  "  through 
the  (Soma)  stalk  one  gets  to  immortality"  may  be  implied  the 
belief  in  man's  obtaining  immortality  through  drinking  the  same 
ambrosia.     In  Rig  Veda,  i.  31.  7,  if  is  said  that  Fire  "  daily  sets 


IMMORTALITY  IN  INDIA  73 

Scattered  indications  of  variant  ideas  as  to  life  after 
death  are  found  in  the  Rig  Vedic  belief  that  stars  are 
the  spirits  of  the  dead  and  that  some  of  the  departed 
Fathers  may  be  living  on  earth  or  in  the  air,  probably 
as  birds,  for  a  legal  aphorism  states  that  it  is  current 
belief  that  the  Manes  fly  about  as  birds.  One  passage 
makes  a  seer  say,  "  I  who  am  now^  the  seer  and  priest 
was  once  Father  Manu  and  once  the  sun,"  as  if  trans- 
migration was  natural,  as  indeed  bird-forms  of  the 
Fathers  would  imply."  There  is,  however,  a  differ- 
ence between  being  born  again  in  a  human  form  and 
in  being  reincarnated  as  an  animal.  Even  when  me- 
tempsychosis was  the  current  Hindu  belief  it  was  not 
universally  believed  that  a  man  was  likely  to  be  reborn 
as  an  animal ;  only  in  some  human  form  of  low  or  high 
degree.  One  was  liable  to  be  reborn  as  an  animal, 
just  as  one  might  instantaneously  be  converted  into  a 
beast,  by  virtue  of  a  curse;  but  the  probability  was  re- 
mote and  animal-births  were  stories  to  amuse  and  in- 
struct, not  actualities  producing  religious  concern,  de- 
spite all  the  moral  threats  of  the  law-books,  which  as- 
sumed a  certain  natural  logic  in  some  instances  and 
then  developed  a  crude  system  of  future  punishments 
by  analogical  transmigration." 

One  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  similarity  be- 

a  mortal  in  immortality  for  glory,"  a  phrase  perhaps  merely 
poetic  for  "  gives  immortal  glory,"  but  apparently  rather  implying 
that  daily  sacrifice  is  one  of  the  good  works  that  yield  immortal- 
ity. So  the  daily  drinking  of  Soma  is  indubitably  felt  to  be  a 
means  to  the  same  end.  Thus,  ibid.  viii.  48,  3 :  "  We  have 
drunk  Soma  and  become  immortal,  we  have  come  to  the  light 
and  found  the  gods." 

"Rig  Veda,  iv.  26,  I  (the  seer  as  formerly  Manu);  ibid.  x. 
15,  2  (the  Manes  living  on  earth)  ;  Baudh.  Sutra,  ii.  8,  14,  10, 
"A  Vedic  passage  says  that  the  Manes  move  about  as  birds." 

"Sanskrit  mush  (English  mouse)  is  from  the  root  mushf 
steal;  hence  a  thief  will  be  reborn  as  a  mouse  (literally 
"stealer")  ;  but  one  who  steals  water  becomes  a  water-bird,  etc 


74         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

tween   the   rough  transmigration  beUef   synchronous 
with  a  beUef  in  immortal  heavenly  bliss  as  found  in 
early  India  and  the  like  association  in  Egypt,  where 
also  metempsychosis  was  not  a  necessary  condition 
and  Avas  not  moral  but  was,  so  to  speak,  a  side  issue, 
an  optional  way,  open  to  the  good  who,  if  they  would, 
might  live  in  the  Elysian  Fields,  but,  if  they  preferred 
to  this,  which  was  practically  a  continuation  of  earthly 
existence  under  ideal  conditions,  the  more  novel  life 
of  bird  or  beast,  they  might  as  a  special  privilege  be- 
come bird  or  beast.     Just  so  the  Vedic  poet  believed 
that  his  normal  destination  was  the  ''Abode  of  Yama 
in  the  sky,"  a  heaven  of  sensuous  enjoyment,  but  that 
he  might  become  a  bird  or  a  star  according  to  his  desire 
and  his  glory.     Probably  he  had  no  very  definite  ideas 
on  the  subject;  he  had  a  general  belief  that  men  who 
were  not  so  wicked  that  their  very  souls  died  naturally, 
lived  with  their  Fathers,  and  sacred  tradition  had  al- 
ready located  their  home  in  the  sky.     But  whether 
they  would  live  forever  in  that  blissful  abode  was  a 
question  apparently  dependent  on  the  consent  of  the 
gods,  over  whose  will  the  dead  man  at  burial  seeks  (by 
the  aid  of  a  priestly  formula)  to  get  control.     In  such 
matters  the  most  weighty  evidence  is  given  by  the  or- 
dinary standards.     These  standards  are  established  by 
burial-hymns  and  hymns  to  the  Manes.     They  show 
(as  they  are  in  universal  use)  that  the  ordinary  man 
expected  to  rejoin  his  Fathers  and  Yama,  and  that  the 
Fathers  came  regularly  to  their  meals  (offered  by  hu- 
man descendants),  but  that  they  might  be  resident 
either  in  the  sky  or  on  earth.     All  popular  tradition, 
reflected  in  the  subsequent  literature,   points  to  the 
same  conclusion. 

Later  Vedic  belief,  voiced  in  the  speculation  which 
eventually  by  imperceptible  degrees  passes  into  the  for- 


/ 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  75 

mal  theological  and  philosophical  speculation  of  the 
Upanishads,  plays  with  and  elaborates  the  idea  of  im- 
mortality. The  Father-god  is  said  to  be  *'  half  death 
and  half  immortality,"  that  is,  both  mortality  and  im- 
mortality are  phases  of  the  supreme  divinity.  The 
gods  as  a  class  of  spiritual  beings  were  (as  now  con- 
sidered) not  naturally  immortal.  They  became  pos- 
sessed of  certain  symbolic  facts  In  the  sacrificial  mys- 
tery, and  through  this  wisdom  attained  to  immortality. 
Death  became  alarmed,  thinking  that  men  also  might 
gain  knowledge  which  would  exempt  them  from  death 
and  thereby  rob  him.  Death,  of  his  prey,  which  would 
entail  the  loss  of  offerings  hitherto  made  to  him.  The 
gods,  however,  reassured  Death,  telling  him  that  no 
man  should  be  "  immortal  with  his  body,"  but  that  any 
man,  *'  after  parting  with  his  body,"  might  become 
immortal  "  through  knowledge  or  through  works." 
But  even  this  passage  admits  that  a  man  who  dies 
without  gaining  immortality  through  his  knowledge  or 
his  works  becomes  again  the  prey  of  death:  ''Those 
men  who  have  neither  knowledge  or  works  come  to 
life  after  death,  but  they  become  the  food  of  Death 
again  and  again."  ^^ 

In  this  second  Vedic  period,  that  of  the  prose  Brah- 
manas  subsequent  to  the  Vedic  Hymns,  immortality 

"  Sat.  Brahmana,  i.  3,  2,  4f . ;  ii.  2,  2,  6 ;  x.  4,  3,  g-io.  Here, 
as  in  the  earlier  conception,  the  dead  man  leaves  his  body  behind, 
the  e3^e  going  to  the  sun,  the  breath  to  the  wind,  etc.,  and  as- 
sumes a  "  body  of  light "  or  "  glory-body."  Thus  the  stars  are 
the  glory-bodies,  prakritayas,  of  ancient  seers.  The  departed 
Fathers  not  only  lived  on  in  bliss  but  they  fought  on  in  pov^er 
for  their  families  and  were  regarded  (like  mediaeval  saints)  as 
helpful  spirits  and  powerful  allies  in  the  spiritual  world.  Yet 
the  Hindu  Fathers  were  alwa3^s  dependent  on  their  descendants 
for  the  food  supplied  them  at  their  daily  (in  human  terms, 
monthly)  meal.  "A  human  month  is  a  night  and  day  of  the 
Fathers.  The  dark  half  of  the  month  is  their  day  and  the 
bright  half  is  their  night,  the  former  for  activity,  the  latter  for 
sleep"  (Manu's  Lavv-book). 


76         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

has  become  universal,  not  a  special  reward  of  virtue. 
All  men  are  now  believed  to  be  born  again  and  then 
they  are  recompensed  according  to  their  deeds,  good 
being  rewarded  and  wickedness  punished.     The  good 
that  man  does  is  put  into  one  side  of  a  balance  and  the 
wickedness  into  the  other  side  and  the  man's  soul  fol- 
lows the  weightier.     Hence  the  man  still  living  is  ad- 
jured to  "  weight  himself  in  this  world  with  good 
deeds."     The  ritualistic  form  of  religion  of  the  period 
made  it  inevitable  that  sacrifice  should  be  the  chief 
"  good  deed  "  and  in  fact  the  etherial  character  of  the 
body  after  death  was  in  proportion  to  good  deeds  (per- 
formed in  life)  interpreted  in  this  sense.     The  more 
sacrifices  one  makes  the  more  etherial  will  his  body  be 
hereafter,  so  that  a  man  who  performs  the  greatest  of 
sacrifices  will  need  in  the  next  life  to  eat  only  once  a 
year.     But  as  a  counterpart  to  this  ideal  of  etherial 
bliss  it  is  not  uncommon  to  find  a  prayer  or  promise 
that  a  man  after  death  shall  be  born  with  his  whole 
body  in  the  next  life.''     One  is  liable  to  go  to  heaven 
incomplete,  leaving  his  bones  on  earth,  an  undesirable 
state.     Instead  of  living  with  Yama  and  the  gods, 
however,   it   is   expressly   said  that   a  man  becomes 
"whatever  god  he  will."     That  is,   as  the  voice  at 
death  goes  to  Fire,  and  the  eye  to  the  Sun,  the  mind 
to  the  Moon,  the  ear  to  the  directions  (regions  of  air), 
and  the  breath  to  Wind,  and  each  recipient  is  a  god, 
so  the  man  himself  becomes  a  god,  a  view  which  re- 
flects the  old  belief  that  the  pious  become  rays  of  the 
sun,  saints  become  stars,  etc.     As  late  as  the  epic  it  is 
taught  that  "  the  stars  which  seem  small  because  of 
their  distance"  are  huge  flaming  bodies,  incorporate 
forms  of  glorious  saints.     Good  works  or  knowledge 

"  Sat.  Brah.  xi.  2,  7,  33.     Compare  Weber  in  the  Journal  of  the 
German  Oriental  Society,  volume  nine. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  INDIA  77 

gives  man  the  power  thus  to  become  "  of  the  same 
nature  "  with  the  sun,  fire,  or  with  Brahman.  Only 
incidentally  and  as  if  a  rare  event  may  one  without 
dying  go  directly  to  heaven.  Thus  one  sage  is  said 
by  his  knowledge  to  have  gone  to  heaven  and  become 
united  with  the  Sun-god  without  previously  dying. 
But  he  first  (on  earth)  became  a  golden  swan  and 
thus  flew  to  heaven.  Heaven  itself  is  now  no 
longer  the  common  abode  of  gods  and  Fathers.  The 
door  of  the  gods'  heaven  lies  in  the  northeast  and 
the  door  of  the  heaven  of  the  Manes  lies  in  the  south- 
east. 

Retribution  after  death  may  be  implied  in  the  tale  of 
a  seer  called  Bhrigu,  the  son  of  the  god  Varuna,  who 
saw  a  vision  of  men  cut  up  and  eaten  in  the  next  life 
as  a  punishment  for  the  cruelties  they  had  inflicted  in 
a  previous  existence  upon  those  who  were  now  their 
torturers.  But  neither  reward  nor  punishment  is,  to 
speak  strictly,  everlasting.  The  duration  of  both  is 
entirely  indefinite.  As  the  gods  are  also  of  indefinite 
duration,  man  is,  however,  assured  of  a  reasonably 
long  if  not  immortal  existence  either  in  heaven  with 
the  gods  or  as  part  of  a  god.  The  idea  of  this  heav- 
enly existence  is  no  longer  sensuous.  Absorption  into 
Brahma  excludes  such  an  idea,  and  later  Brahmanism 
expressly  states  what  earlier  Brahmanism  implies, 
namely  that  "no  slaves  of  passion  are  found  in  the 
sphere  of  Brahman."  As  between  work  and  knowl- 
edge, again,  the  philosophic  thought  of  the  later  period 
sets  steadily  toward  the  final  solution  of  the  problem, 
to  wit,  that  works  are  vain  and  that  knowledge  is  the 
only  sure  means  of  eventual  and  final  bliss.  By  works, 
it  is  said,  one  is  bound,  by  knowledge  one  is  Uberated. 
The  truly  pious  do  no  good  works  (of  sacrifice,  etc.,) 
but  acquire  wisdom ;  only  those  who  have  divine  wis- 


78  EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

dom  become  immortal.  It  is  nowhere  said  that  retri- 
bution is  unending.  This  idea  comes  with  the  notion 
of  eternal  transmigration  ethically  considered,  which  is 
comparatively  late.  First  in  the  Upanishads  (c.  700- 
600  B.  c.)  occurs  the  statement  which  foreshadows 
the  causal  nexus  utilized  by  Buddha  in  explaining  the 
doctrine  of  an  endless  round  of  existence  caused  by 
unsuppressed  ''  desire."  In  one  of  the  earliest  of  these 
Upanishads''  is  found  this  dictum:  *' as  is  man's  de- 
sire, so  is  his  will ;  as  is  the  will,  so  is  the  act ;  as  is  the 
act,  so  will  he  reap;  but  he  who  desires  only  the 
World-Soul,  he  goes  to  Brahma;  his  immortal  breath 
(soul,  prclna)  is  Brahma,  is  light  (glory)  only.''  An- 
other Upanishad  divides  the  way  of  the  soul  according 
to  two  paths.  Some,  even  saints,  desire  offspring;  at 
death  they  go  to  the  moon  and  are  reborn  on  earth  and 
have  children.  But  sages,  who  are  ascetic,  full  of  faith 
and  knowledge,  who  have  given  up  the  desire  of  this 
earthly  immortality  and  seek  only  union  with  the  high- 
est, follow  the  northern  course,  going  to  the  sun,  where 
they  become  immortal  and  return  to  earth  no  more.'" 
This  is  a  favourite  theme  with  later  writers.  It  cul- 
minates in  that  immaterial  view  of  heaven  which  sets 
it  against  an  immaterial  hell,  and  declares  that 
''  heaven  is  what  delights  the  soul,  hell  is  what  pains 
the  soul,  hence  heaven  is  virtue  and  vice  is  hell,"  or, 
"  heaven  is  light  eternal,  hell  is  the  darkness  of  igno- 
rance." Yet  these  are  apophthegms  of  the  philosophi- 
cal and  spiritual  saint  rather  than  the  beliefs  of  the 
practical  man  and  of  the  mass.  To  discover  what  the 
latter  were  is,  of  course,  not  altogether  easy  in  a  litera- 
ture essentially  didactic  and  reflecting  always  the  creed 
inculcated  by  priests  rather  than  naively  held  by  the 

^^  Brihad-aranyaka  Up.  iv.  4,  5f. 
'^"Prasna  Up.  i.  9. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  79 

people.  Yet  it  may  probably  be  assumed  with  some 
degree  of  verisimilitude  that  what  is  universally  taught 
to  the  people  is  the  current  belief.  Such  teaching  may 
be  found  in  the  law-manuals,  where  religion  is  second- 
ary to  ethics  and  law.  In  these  manuals,  soul,  a  Su- 
preme Being,  and  an  immortal  life  of  some  sort  are 
assumed  as  a  matter  of  course  and  occasionally  become 
the  subject  of  a  few  didactic  remarks.  Although  os- 
tentatiously orthodox,  that  is,  based  on  belief  in  the 
divine  authority  of  the  Vedas,  the  law-books  actually 
inculcate  a  modified  Vedism,  partly  through  their  ex- 
pansion of  Vedic  ideas  and  partly  through  their  ten- 
dency to  uphold  the  Vedic  ritual  at  the  expense  of 
Vedic  freedom  of  thought.  In  general,  however,  on 
the  particular  subject  now  under  consideration,  they 
teach  that  man  obtains  immortality  if  he  will,  but  if 
he  prefers  he  may  enjoy  the  reward  of  heaven  for  his 
good  works  and  then  be  born  again ;  or,  for  evil  works, 
suffer  in  hell  and  then  be  born  again.  The  question 
whether  heaven  would  be  an  "  endless  reward  "  is  not 
answered  in  Vedic  nor  in  philosophical  manner  but  is 
met  with  the  dogmatic  assertion  that  "  the  Vedas  de- 
clare there  is  a  reward  without  end  called  heavenly 
bliss."  But  where  the  law  differs  from  philosophy, 
and  it  must  be  remembered  that  law  and  not  philos- 
ophy is  what  is  taught  to  the  common  people,  is  in  the 
distinct  denial  that  knowledge  alone  is  sufficient  to  in- 
sure immortality.  To  admit  this  would  have  been  to 
cut  out  the  whole  series  of  ''  good  works  "  (sacrificial 
ritual)  as  otiose.  So  Apastamba,  who  makes  the  dec- 
laration just  cited,  says  emphatically:  "  Some  say  that 
knowledge  of  the  All-Soul  is  sufficient  to  insure  peace 
(immortal  happiness)  ;  but  this  is  incorrect.  The  dic- 
tum hiiddhe  ksheinaprapanam  ("attainment  of  im- 
mortal happiness  rests  on  knowledge  " )  is  opposed  to 


80  EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  treatises  of  law." "  The  most  authoritative  of 
these  law-treatises,  that  of  Manu,  gives  as  its  final 
word  on  the  subject  that  one  who  has  followed  the 
law  and  learned  all  that  philosophy  can  teach  in  regard 
to  the  All-Soul,  "  after  death  obtains  whatever  course 
he  will,"  that  is,  he  may  become  united  with  the 
World-Soul  or  become  a  god  or  pass  into  any  form  of 
existence.  But  Manu  and  most  of  his  fellow-legisla- 
tors condemn  the  rejection  of  "  good  works."  In 
other  words,  immortality  is  possible,  but  not  on  the 
basis  of  mere  knowledge;  one  must  have  led  a  relig- 
ious life  in  form  and  ceremony  to  ensure  salvation. 
The  difference  between  the  religious  man  who  fulfills 
the  law,  no  unimportant  item  of  which  is  that  he  should 
lead  a  family-life  and  have  children,  and  the  ascetic 
philosopher,  who  discards  all  human  ties  and  wishes 
by  meditation  and  "  knowledge  "  to  attain  to  Brahma, 
is  illustrated  by  Apastamba  in  his  discussion  of  the 
*'  two  paths  "  discussed  in  the  Upanishads. 

*'  There  were  eight  and  eighty  thousand  sages  who, 
desiring  offspring,  followed  the  sun  on  its  southern 
course  and  so  obtained  the  reward  of  heaven,  and 
there  were  eight  and  eighty  who  desired  no  offspring 
but  followed  the  northern  course  of  the  sun  and  ob- 
tained immortality."  Some  six  hundred  years  later  a 
writer  who  mingles  philosophy  with  law  discusses  this 
question  of  the  two  ways,  introducing  the  subject  with 
a  dissertation  on  the  impossibility  of  discerning  truth 
when  the  soul  is  clouded  with  passion:  *'As  a  soiled 
mirror  cannot  reflect  an  image,  so  the  soiled  soul  can- 
not reflect  truth.  But  the  clean  soul  sees  that  there  is 
one  spirit  and  one  world,  which  is  a  combination  of 
five  elements,  space,  air,  fire,  water,  and  earth.     Now 

"Apastamba,  ii.  21,   14.     This   law-manual  dates   from  about 
300  B.  c. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  81 

the  Soul  of  the  World  emits  from  itself  the  world,  as 
a  silkworm  out  of  itself  [literally,  out  of  its  own 
spittle]  makes  a  cocoon,  shaping  it  with  the  elements, 
as  a  potter  with  clay,  stick,  and  wheel  shapes  a  jar,  as 
a  carpenter  with  clay,  wood,  and  straw,  shapes  a  house, 
as  a  goldsmith  out  of  mere  gold  makes  a  thing  of 
beauty.  Thus  using  elements  and  organs  the  World- 
Soul  shapes  itself  in  different  births.  To  reach  im- 
mortality one  must  recognize  the  Soul  in  the  world, 
but  only  by  serenity  and  freedom  from  passion  can  one 
know  the  Soul  and  only  he  who  is  without  desire  can 
attain  the  highest  desire.  When  one  has  thus  attained 
the  peace  of  the  pure  he  will  know  the  Soul  and  may 
thus  immortalize  himself." ''  But  tradition  tells  of 
the  "two  ways"  (the  writer  continues)  and  these 
must  be  explained:  "  The  path  of  the  Fathers  who  de- 
sire offspring  is  one;  that  of  those  who  desire  none  is 
different.  Those  who  perform  good  works  and  have 
all  the  eight  virtues  go  to  heaven  and  abide  in  bliss  till 
they  descend  to  earth  again  as  the  seed  of  the  right- 
eous. These  are  the  eight  and  eighty  thousand 
whereof  Scripture  speaks.  But  it  speaks  also  of  other 
eight  and  eighty  thousand  and  they  are  the  sages  who 
do  not  desire  heaven  and  their  way  is  not  thither  but 
it  goes  near  the  Seven  Seers  (the  constellation  of  the 
Great  Bear,  higher  than  the  heaven  of  the  other  seers) 
and  carries  them  to  fire,  to  the  day,  to  the  light  half 
of  the  moon,  to  the  sun  on  its  northern  course,  to  glory 
everlasting  in  the  abode  of  Brahma,  whence  there  is 
no  return  to  earth  (no  subsequent  birth  and  death). 
These  then  are  immortal.  But  the  pious  and  vener- 
able ones  who  desire  offspring,  who  have  devoted 
themselves  to  asceticism,  to  sacrifice,  to  all  good  works 

^*  Yajnavalkya,  iii.  159,  coins  here  the  word  amriti-hhavet,  as 
if  in  Latin  i?mnortali-fiat. 


82         RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

whose  goal  is  heaven,  their  path  is  to  smoke,  to  night, 
to  the  moon''  in  its  dark  half,  to  the  southern  course 
of  the  sun,  and  on  that  course  they  reach  the  moon,  the 
abode  of  the  Fathers  in  heaven,  and  there  they  remain 
till,  as  rain  and  wind,  they  fall  to  earth  and  become 
reborn.  For  as  rain  they  enter  earth  and  develop  into 
food  for  living  beings  and  so  become  living  beings, 
new  creatures  born  again." 

Traces  of  this  crude  form  of  transmigration  are 
found  in  the  Upanishads.'"  Rough  as  is  the  combina- 
tion of  folk-lore  and  philosophy,  it  is  clear  that  the 
teaching  implies  the  possibility  of  immortality  in  the 
strict  sense  only  in  the  case  of  those  who  have  given 
up  all  desires.  Other  souls  return  to  the  course  of 
transmigration,  which  implies  unending  births  and 
deaths  and  hence  is  not  '*  freedom  from  death  "  (im- 
mortality) but  only  endlessness.  The  legislator,  who 
is  more  philosophical  than  most  of  his  kind,  seems  to 
approve  of  the  eight  and  eighty  thousand  (a  common 
periphrasis  for  a  multitude)  who  renounce  desire,  es- 
pecially of  offspring;  but  he  is  careful  to  confine  the 
application  of  his  teaching  to  sages.  The  ordinary 
man  cannot  be  a  sage  of  the  sort  that  becomes  immor- 
tal. He  has  to  raise  a  family,  and  to  sacrifice  to  the 
gods  is  one  of  his  duties.  His  latter  end  is  thus  a 
temporary  abode  of  bliss  with  descent  to  earth  and  re- 
birth followed  by  re-death. 

This  teaching,  however,  does  not  contradict  that  of 
the  old  philosophers,  who  distinguish  what  is  to  be 
taught  exoterically  and  esoterically.  The  Upanishads 
recognize  the  partial  truth  of  a  conditioned  Brahma  as 
they  recognize  that  the  ordinary  man  must  believe  in 

=°This  is  a  refinement  on  the  old  notion  that  all  the  dead  go  to 
the  moon   (Kaushitaki  Upanishad,  i,  2). 

^°  Brihad-aranyaka,  vi.  2,  and  Kaushitaki,  i.  2. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  83 

gods  and  heavenly  rewards.  It  is  thus  only  for  the 
philosopher  that  the  truth  is  stated  in  these  terms: 
"  There  are  two  forms  of  Brahma,  immortal  and  mor- 
tal, immaterial  and  material;  so  man  is  both  mortal 
and  immortal,  material  and  immaterial,"  and  again: 
"  When  all  desires  cease,  the  mortal  becomes  immortal 
and  obtains  Brahma.  He  who  knows  the  Soul  of  the 
World  becomes  immortal  through  that  knowledge,  be- 
comes himself  the  Soul  of  the  World,  which  is  seen 
nowhere  but  is  felt  in  man's  heart,"  or,  as  elsewhere 
stated,  "  those  who  in  heart  and  mind  know  Him,  the 
World-Soul,  become  Immortal."  " 

The  popular  teaching  tended,  however,  even  when  it 
rejected  the  sacrificial  works  of  the  law,  to  emphasize 
faith  rather  than  knowledge.  Thus  the  Bhagavad 
Gita,  a  sort  of  sectarian  Upanishad  in  popular  form, 
insists  on  freedom  from  desire  and  from  hope  of  re- 
ward (in  heaven).  But  one  must  through  faith  in 
Krishna  rather  than  through  knowledge,  "  free  oneself 
from  birth  and  death,  from  misery  and  old  age  "  and 
by  giving  up  all  desires,  save  the  desire  to  be  with  the 
Lord  Krishna,  "  become  immortal." 

Where  the  older  religion  then  is  divided  between 
the  tvv'o  methods  of  obtaining  salvation,  which  implies 
immortality,  namely  the  way  of  knowledge  and  the 
way  of  ceremonial  observance,  the  newer  sectarian  re- 
ligion is  inclined  to  trust  almost  wholly  to  faith  in  the 
personal  Lord.  In  a  sense,  this  is  closer  to  the  second 
of  the  two  older  ways,  for  the  way  of  ceremonial  is 
essentially  the  way  of  faith  in  the  gods  and  sacrifices 
to  the  gods  handed  down  from  Vedic  times,  and  the 
new  way  of  faith  merely  changes  the  object  of  devo- 
tion. At  the  same  time  this  older  faith  had  become 
stereotyped  in  expression,  it  was  a  faith  in  the  Vedas 

'Mvatha  Upanishad,  ii.  6,  14,  9;  Svet.  Up.  iv.  20. 


84         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

rather  than  a  living  faith  in  the  gods  to  whom  sacri- 
fice was  made,  and  the  sacrifice  itself  had  long  become 
a  magical  ritual  rather  than  an  expression  of  heartfelt 
devotion.  The  new  religion,  that  introduced  by  the 
Gita,  which  has  not  inaptly  been  called  the  ''  New  Tes- 
tament of  Hinduism,"  inculcates  a  living  faith  in 
Krishna  as  the  saviour  of  man,  through  whom  alone 
man  attains  to  everlasting  felicity. 

The  formal  philosophies  represented  by  the  system 
called  the  Vedanta  of  Sankara  and  that  of  Ramanuja, 
four  centuries  later  than  Sankara  (circa  1200  a.  d.), 
really  advance  along  these  same  lines.     That  is  to  say, 
the  monistic  Vedanta  is  based  on  the  statements  of  the 
old  Upanishads,  such  as  that  of  the  Chandogya  Upani- 
shad  when  it  says,  ''  Delusion  is  death ;  knowledge  is 
freedom  from  death ;  he  who  knows  this  does  not  see 
death,"  and  that  of  the  Svetasvatara  Upanishad,  ''  By 
knowing  Him  only  one  passes  over  death,"   but  it 
makes  the  living  Him  of  the  latter  Upanishad  an  im- 
personal substratum  of  existence  and  the  immortality 
of  man  an  absorption  into  that  substratum  in  which  all 
personality  is  lost.     Ramanuja,  on  the  other  hand,  de- 
nies that  the  Soul  of  the  World  is  without  attributes 
and  in  his  system  the  soul  of  man  is  immortally  indi- 
vidual and  personal,  so  that  this  system  closely  ap- 
proaches the  Christian  belief  in  God  and  immortal  hap- 
piness of  souls  living  in  the  presence  of  God.     With 
these  systems  there  was  no  question  as  to  immortality, 
only  as  to  the  form  thereof.     The  two  systems  are 
analogous  to  the  beliefs  of  the  Buddhists  who  about 
the  same  era,  after  divesting  themselves  of  the  primi- 
tive notion  that  annihilation  was  the  sitmnnmi  bonum, 
adopted  the  belief  that  Nirvana  is  not  extinction  but 
immortal   being   or  peace,   sometimes   interpreted   as 
everlasting  existence   in  the  Western   Paradise.     In 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  85 

both  Brahmanism  and  Buddhism,  the  belief  in  a  per- 
sonal immortality  was  more  general  and  more  endur- 
ing; that  in  an  immortality  conceived  as  impersonal 
oneness  with  the  Absolute  was  confined  chiefly  to  phi- 
losophers. Thus  in  Buddhism  as  it  is  found  in  the  Far 
East,  the  popular  teaching  to-day  admits  the  hope  of 
personal  immortality;  while  in  Brahmanism,  the  many 
systems  deriving  from  that  of  Ramanuja  or  his  fol- 
lowers inculcate  a  belief  in  one  Supreme  Being  and  in 
the  immortal  happiness  of  the  believer.  Also  the  fol- 
lowers of  Krishna  in  their  various  modern  forms  all 
believe  in  a  similar  immortality  of  bliss  for  those  who 
regard  him  as  identical  with  the  Supreme  Being.  It  is 
to-day  only  the  philosophers  who  look  upon  themselves 
as  illustrating  the  ancient  simile  of  "  rivers  mingling 
with  the  ocean  and  losing  individuality."  That  even 
from  the  seventh  century  b.  c.  the  general  expectation 
of  the  devotee  was  that  he  should  live  forever  in  bliss 
with  his  Lord,  is  quite  certain.  It  was  combined  in 
the  following  manner  with  the  doctrine  of  metempsy- 
chosis. A  man  lives  on  earth  subject  to  passion  and 
other  vitiating  traits.  If  he  is  thereby  led  to  commit 
sin,  he  will  after  death  be  punished  in  hell  for  his  sin 
and  then,  after  an  uncertain  period  of  time,  be  reborn 
in  a  state  appropriate  to  his  sin.  On  the  other  hand, 
by  living  a  holy  life  he  will  be  reborn  in  bliss,  the  dura- 
tion of  which  in  heaven  will  depend  on  his  virtue  in 
the  last  existence ;  but  when  his  merit  is  exhausted  he 
also  will  fall  to  earth,  "  like  a  shooting  star,"  and  enter 
a  womb  in  accordance  with  his  merit.  Age  after  age 
this  process  is  repeated  till  in  the  course  of  time  he 
will,  by  giving  up  all  desires  and  living  nobly  in  each 
successive  stage,  overcome  all  demerit  and  will  be  bom 
on  earth  no  more.  The  change  in  this  view  induced 
by  the  Krishna-cult  and  similar  modifications  is  merely 


86  RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

that  through  faith  he  may,  on  dying,  at  once  obtain 
release  and  go  to  immediate  immortal  bliss. 

The  resemblance  between  this  non-sectarian  belief 
and  that  of  the  Greek  philosophers  who  taught  metemp- 
sychosis is  obvious.     In  Plotinus  the  soul  is  one  with 
the  Absolute,  as  it  is  in  the  Vedanta,  and  in  both  sys- 
tems it  is  estranged  from  the  Absolute  by  ignorance. 
When  illusion  is  cast  out  and  the  soul  recognizes  its 
true  being  by  intuition  it  becomes,  or  rather  that  in- 
stant is,  identical  with  the  Absolute.     So  earlier,  in 
Plato,  punishment  in  hell  and  reward  in  heaven  are 
combined  with  metempsychosis.     But  in  the  view  of 
the  Greeks  the  round  of  transmigration  w^as  not  end- 
less.    According  to  Pindar,   souls  that  are  punished 
beneath  earth  return  in  nine  years,  or  the  soul  wanders 
thrice  ten  thousand  seasons  born  in  all  forms  of  mortal 
beings.     Souls  are  first  punished  in  hell  and  then,  as 
in  India,  are  reborn  in  a  certain  round  of  existences. 
But  the  difference  between  the  systems  of  India  and 
Greece  is  marked.     In  Greece  the  soul  forgets  that  it 
is  divine  and  the  philosopher  seeks  to  awaken  it  to  its 
true  origin  by  ascetic  observances,  as  did  the  Pythag- 
oreans and  Orphic  philosophers.     Thus  the  soul  owes 
its  state  in  its  earthly  body  to  a  mythical  fall,  either  a 
transgression  of  divine  law  or  inability  to  control  pas- 
sion.    No  such  idea  as  that  of  the  fall  of  an  originally 
pure  soul  is  found  in  the  Hindu  doctrine.     Moreover, 
according  to  Plato,  souls  that  have  suffered  cast  lots 
with  those  that  have  been  blessed,  after  a  thousand 
years,  and  then  choose  what  life  they  will  lead  there- 
after.    A  soul's  rebirth  in  animal  form  is  voluntary. 
Only  after  three  thousand  years  does  a  soul  "  recover 
its  wings  "  and  mount  to  the  heavenly  world  from 
which  it  came.     It  is  not  probable  that  either  early 
system  was  received  from  the  other,  though  some  think 


IMMOETALITY  IN  INDIA  87 

that  the  philosophy  of  Plotinus  may  have  been  influ- 
enced by  eastern  ideas/' 

In  one  particular  the  doctrine  of  immortality  in 
India  is  unique.  The  belief  in  the  transference  of 
merit  was  universal.  So  Buddha,  from  his  own  store 
of  unrivalled  merit,  could  bestow  merit  upon  another, 
thus  mitigating  for  that  other  the  pangs  induced  by 
demerit.  This  doctrine  was  applied  even  to  immor- 
tality and  as  late  as  our  own  times  it  is  illustrated  by 
the  tale  of  Bharthari,  as  believed  by  the  modern  Sikhs. 
He  was  king  of  Ujjain  and  one  of  his  priests  had 
through  austerity  won  immortality.  As  he  loved  the 
king,  he  made  him  a  present  of  it.  As  the  king  loved 
his  queen,  he  in  turn  presented  her  with  this  gift  of 
immortality.  As  the  queen  was  In  love  with  the  min- 
ister of  police,  she  gave  it  to  him;  but,  as  he  was  de- 
voted to  the  king,  he  presented  it  to  Bharthari  again, 
who,  however,  was  so  disgusted  at  finding  his  gift 
returning  in  this  way  that  he  renounced  immortality 
altogether.'^ 

It  should  be  said  in  conclusion  that  although  the 
dualistic  view  and  the  view  that  the  soul  is  different 
("similar  but  not  the  same")  from  the  All-Soul,  as 
the  All-Soul  or  Supreme  Being  is  different  from  Na- 
ture, prevails  in  general  among  the  modern  religious 
sects,  yet  in  Siva-sects  there  have  been  and  still  are 
many  who  insist  on  the  old  Vedanta  oneness  of  soul 
and  Soul  (of  the  World)  and  whose  longing  is  for 
union  with  God  in  the  non-dualistic  sense.  But  these 
sects  have  not  held  their  own  with  those  that  have 
prayed  rather  to  "  come  to  God  "  than  to  become  God, 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  their  failure  has  been  due 

^  Compare  on   this  point,   George  F.   Moore,  Metempsychosis 
(Cambridge,  Mass.,  1914). 
'^Macauliffe,  The  Sikh  Religion,  Oxford,  1909,  Vol,  I,  p.  169. 


88       religio:n^  and  the  future  life 

to  just  this  insistence.     It  is,  too,  a  question  in  how 
far  the  hope  of  immortality  thus  regarded  as  eternal 
oneness  with  God  is  a  reflection  of  book-learning  and 
in  how   far  it  actually  expresses  the  belief   of   the 
modern  devotee.     Many  of  the  phrases  used  in  these 
sects  are  mere  translations  or  imitations  of  the  old 
Gita  gospel,  in  which  "  union  "  is  spoken  of  but  in 
effect  this  union  is  living  with  God,  who  by  His  grace 
saves  the  mortal  that  has  faith  and  love  for  Him. 
But  the  Gita  itself  is  not  always  consistent  and  it  some- 
times harks  back  to  the  power  of  *'  knowledge  "  as  the 
means  of  Salvation.     This  salvation  consists,  as  in  the 
religion  that  centres  about  Amita  Buddha,  in  "  coming 
to  the  Lord  "  and  living  forever  with  Him,  or,  as  it  is 
said  in  the  Awakening  of  Faith  of  the  Mahayana 
School  of  Buddhism,  the  devotee  ''  passes  to  where  he 
immortally    sees    Buddha."      So,    although    Krishna 
speaks  in  the  Gita  of  man  as  becoming  united  with 
Brahma,  yet  his  final  word  is,  ''  Be  devoted  to  me, 
revere  me,  and  thou  shalt  come  to  me,  to  me  as  thy 
refuge,  for  thou  art  dear  to  me,  and  I  will  release  thee 
from  all  thy  sins,"  and  it  is  Krishna  who  declares  that 
his  worshipper  through  devotion  is  *'  fitted  for  Brahma 
and  Brahma's  support  is  Krishna,"  while  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  same  speaker  *'  my  devotees  through  faith 
come  to  immortality."     No  doubt  there  is  also  a  strain 
of  mysticism  here  which  makes  uncertain  any  too  exact 
definition,  for  again  it  is  Krishna  who  says:  *' I  am 
immortality  and  death,  I  am  that  which  is  and  that 
which  is  not,"  but  the  essential  meaning  of  "  come  to 
me  "  may  perhaps  best  be  seen  in  the  words  succeeding 
those  just  cited:  "  Those  who  worship  the  gods  go  to 
the  gods,  those  who  make  vows  to  the  Manes  go  to 
the  Manes,  those  who  worship  devils  go  to  the  devils, 
and  those  who  worship  me  go  to  me,"  apparently  to 


IMMORTALITY  IN  INDIA  89 

enjoy  endless  bliss,  for  it  is  added:  "  Those  who  wor- 
ship me  abide  in  me  and  I  in  them — ^he  who  is  my 
devotee  obtains  everlasting  peace,"  or,  as  elsewhere 
expressed,  "  he  comes  to  the  highest  place,"  "  he  will 
come  to  the  Supreme  divine  being."  In  any  event, 
immortality  is  the  reward  of  loving  devotion;  and  as 
in  the  Gita,  so  in  the  subsequent  developments  of 
Krishnaism,  as  in  Ramaism,  the  faithful  soul  becomes 
immortal  in  or  with  the  Supreme  Soul.  In  the  great 
modern  religious  poem  of  Tulsi  Das,  a  poem  which 
expresses  the  feeling  and  belief  of  generations  of 
Rama-devotees,  ''  after  piety  and  asceticism  comes 
knowledge;  knowledge  is  good,  but  higher  than  all 
knowledge  is  faith,  the  incomparable  source  of  happi- 
ness." Faith  here,  as  in  the  Gita,  is  ''  the  easy  way 
by  which  one  comes  to  God  "  and  "  finds  immortal 
bliss."  This  attitude  has  even  had  the  effect  of  com- 
bining the  irreconcilable  religious  elements  of  theism 
and  metempsychosis  in  that,  as  a  modern  pietist  says, 
"  even  the  infinite  round  of  transmigration  loses  its 
terror  if  one  has  faith,  for  then  one  forever  in  ever 
new  births  may  be  the  devotee  of  God  and  associate 
with  Him  in  loving  worship."  ^* 

'*This  religion  of  loving  faith,  bhakti,  openly  mocks  af  that  of 
knowledge,  as  in  the  sarcastic  statement:  "I  ask  him  why  he  is 
not  singing  the  glory  of  God  and  worshipping  Him  with  loving 
devotion  and  he  replies,  '  I  have  no  time;  I  am  too  busy  with  the 
discussion  oi  the  doctrine  of  the  identity  of  God  and  the  world.'  " 
For  the  writers  of  this  later  period,  compare  Macnicol,  Indian 
Theism,  Oxford,  191 5. 


IV 

IMMORTALITY  AMONG  THE  BABYLONIANS 
AND  ASSYRIANS 
Morris  Jastrow,  Jr. 

I 

IN  any  discussion  of  the  beliefs  about  immortality 
among  Babylonians  and  Assyrians,  our  point  of 
departure  must  be  the  view  which,  as  the  survival 
of  the  animistic  stage  in  primitive  religion,  is  common 
to  antiquity,  to  wit,  that  life  as  such  does  not  come  to 
an  end.     Longfellow's  utterance, 

"  There  is  no  death, 
What  seems  so  is  transition,'* 

voices  the  attitude  of  man  before  the  age  of  sophisti- 
cated reflection  set  in  to  raise  a  doubt  whether  death 
was  not  the  end  of  what  we  call  consciousness.  The 
belief  that  life  in  some  form  continues  is  the  natural 
phase,  the  normal  state  of  mind  among  all  peoples  up 
to  a  certain  and  in  most  cases  up  to  a  relatively  high 
stage  of  culture.  The  doubt  comes  when  more  serious 
speculation  sets  in  as  to  the  meaning  of  human  exist- 
ence, the  mystery  of  life  and  the  relationship  of  that 
mystery  to  the  phenomena  about  us. 

In  Greece  we  find  a  genuine  scepticism  arising 
through  the  influence  of  philosophical  thought,  leading 
to  such  a  remarkable  production  as  Plato's  Phaedo  to 

90 


THE  BABYLONIAIS^S  AND  ASSYRIANS       91 

prove  by  elaborate  arguments  a  belief  which  primitive 
religion  took  for  granted,  while  in  India  we  find  specu- 
lation likewise  starting  from  the  popular  view  that  life 
is  a  perpetual  process  of  transition  but  reaching  the 
conclusion  that  extinction  of  consciousness  is  the  de- 
sirable goal  of  life.  The  goal,  however,  can  only  be 
reached  after  one  has  passed  through  a  series  of  ex- 
istences marked  by  the  suppression  of  desires  and  cul- 
minating in  the  effacement  of  the  last  of  all  desires,  the 
desire  for  life  itself,  which  is  at  once  the  source  of  all 
misery  and  the  cause  of  evil  and  injustice  and  w^hich 
makes  life  a  struggle  and  a  burden. 

The  doubt  thus  unfolds  itself  in  two  directions  ac- 
cording as  life  is  viewed  as  a  blessing  or  as  a  curse. 
It  leads,  on  the  one  hand,  as  in  the  great  monotheistic 
faiths  essentially  optimistic  in  their  ultimate  outlook, 
to  a  distinction  between  consciousness  attached  to  a 
material  body  and  the  spiritualized  conception  of  an 
immortality  vouchsafed  to  the  soul,  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  a  doctrine  of  salvation  through  entering  into 
the  blissful  state  of  complete  unconsciousness.  The 
heavenly  Paradise  of  Jewish,  Christian  and  Islamic 
theology  finds  its  counter  expression  in  the  Nirvana  of 
Buddhism.  But  both  heaven  and  Nirvana  are  the  out- 
come of  doubt  as  to  the  sufficiency  of  primitive  beliefs. 

If  I  may  linger  on  the  threshold  of  my  subject  a  little 
longer,  may  I  call  attention  to  a  confusion  that  one 
often  encounters  in  discussions  on  Animism  between 
Animism  as  a  basic  conception  and  Animism  as  a  stage 
of  belief  through  which  man  in  the  course  of  the  evo- 
lutionary processes  of  his  thought  necessarily  passes. 
It  is,  I  believe,  an  error  to  think  of  Animism  as  a  spe- 
cific form  of  religion ;  it  is  merely  a  substratum  to  re- 
ligion in  both  its  earliest  and  most  advanced  manifes- 
tations— a  substratum  representing  a  groove  in  which 


92         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

of  necessity  man's  fancy  runs  when  he  contemplates 
the  universe  about  him.  Conscious  of  Hfe  within  him- 
self, man  is  inevitably  impelled  to  predicate  life  of 
everything  that  manifests  activity  or  power,  whether 
in  the  bird  soaring  through  the  air  or  in  the  rustling  of 
the  leaves,  whether  in  the  flow  of  the  streams  or  in 
the  flowers  that  spring  up  out  of  the  ground.  He  sees 
life  in  the  wind  that  sweeps  across  the  land,  as  in  the 
fire  that  comes  from  above ;  he  sees  it  in  the  heat  of  the 
sun,  as  in  the  pale  light  of  the  moon  sailing  along  the 
heavenly  expanse.  The  constant  renewal  of  life  in 
nature  and  in  the  trees  that  after  a  period  of  barren- 
ness put  on  fresh  leaves,  or  in  the  apparently  lifeless 
seed  that  put  into  the  ground  awakens  to  fresh  life, 
impresses  him.  But  this  process  of  renewal  of  life  is 
not  needed  as  an  analogy  to  prompt  him  to  the  view 
that  all  life,  including  his  own,  is  an  endless  chain;  nor 
does  he  even  need  the  analogy  between  sleep  and  awak- 
ening to  suggest  that  when  he  lies  down  to  a  sleep 
from  which  there  is  no  apparent  awakening,  his  life 
nevertheless  goes  on  in  some  form.  It  is  sufficient  for 
him  that  he  is  unable  to  conceive  of  himself  as  without 
consciousness. 

"  A  litde  child  that  feels  its  life  in  every  limb. 
What  can  it  know  of  death  ?  " 

What  indeed,  except  its  mysterious  aspect?  But  to 
primitive  man  as  to  the  child  everything  is  mysterious 
— life  quite  as  much  as  death.  The  belief  in  the  con- 
tinuation of  life,  or  as  we  may  also  put  it,  the  impos- 
sibility of  conceiving  of  life  as  coming  to  an  absolute 
terminus  is  instinctive  with  man. 

Nor  does  man  when  he  becomes  conscious  of  some- 
thing within  him  that  is  at  the  core  of  the  manifesta- 
tions of  life  differentiate,  or  at  all  events  he  does  not 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIANS       93 

differentiate  sharply,  between  the  hfe  within  him  and 
the  hfe  that  he  predicates  in  what  he  sees  about  him, 
showing  itself  in  activity  and  in  power.  He  knows  of 
no  distinction  between  what  we  call  animate  and  inani- 
mate being.  All  is  animate  and  life  everywhere  is  of 
the  same  kind.  Hence  it  is  again  almost  instinctive 
with  him  to  assume  that  the  vital  spark  or  essence  may 
pass  from  one  form  to  the  other,  or,  as  primitive  man 
would  put  it,  the  spirit  of  life  may  choose  its  abode 
with  an  unlimited  choice.  This  spirit  of  life,  to  be 
sure,  is  regarded  as  something  material,  though  also 
invisible.  Animism  moves  in  the  groove  of  the  mate- 
rial and  so  the  "  something "  within  him  which  he 
associates  with  life  may  manifest  itself  in  a  tree  or  in 
a  plant;  it  may  have  its  seat  in  an  animal  or  in  a 
stream.  This  corollary  which  ample  evidence  justifies 
us  in  assuming  as  an  outcome  of  Animism  comes  to 
reinforce  the  instinct  which  leads  man  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  his  own  life — or,  as  we  would  say,  his  con- 
sciousness— is  part  of  the  endless  process  of  the  varied 
manifestations  and  perpetual  renewal  of  life;  it  forms 
the  substratum  to  man's  earliest  religious  beliefs,  and 
just  here  we  encounter  the  link  that  connects  Animism 
with  more  advanced  speculation. 

No  matter  how  far  maturer  thought  may  lead  us 
away  from  primitive  beliefs,  we  cannot  escape  from 
the  groove  of  Animistic  conceptions  in  which  the  mind 
of  man — apparently  by  a  law  of  his  being — necessarily 
runs.  The  advanced  religions  of  antiquity,  Egypt, 
Babylonia,  Assyria,  India,  Greece,  Rome,  China,  Ja- 
pan, are  all  inseparably  bound  up  with  Animistic  con- 
ceptions. The  gods  are  personified  powers  of  nature; 
and  when  we  encounter  an  apparently  abstract  concep- 
tion, as  we  do  in  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  as  well  as  in 
India,  of  a  god  of  heaven,  this  dissociation  from  a  per- 


94         EELIGIOK  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

sonified  nature  power  is  only  apparent.  The  god  of 
heaven  turns  out  to  be  the  sun-god  who  because  of  his 
wide  control  is  enlarged  to  a  general  overseer  of  all  the 
phenomena  that  appear  in  the  vault  above  us,  including 
rain  and  storms  as  well  as  the  moon  and  stars. 

The  hint  has  already  been  thrown  out  that  what  in 
the  hands  of  the  speculative  Greek  philosopher  be- 
comes a  carefully  worked  out  theory  of  the  transmi- 
gration of  souls  is  actually  inherent  in  Animism,  which 
assumes,  as  we  have  seen,  the  possibility  of  the  trans- 
fer of  life  from  one  form  to  the  other.  When,  there- 
fore, we  find  on  the  one  hand  the  Jataka,  or  Birth 
Fables,  of  India  setting  forth  the  previous  existences 
of  Buddha  in  the  guise  of  various  animals,  and  on  the 
other  Ovid's  elaborate  poem  on  Metamorphoses,  fur- 
nishing the  illustrations  from  Greek  and  Roman  my- 
thology of  the  same  idea  of  the  exchange  between  hu- 
man and  animal  form,  we  are  led  back  to  Animism  as 
the  source  of  a  belief  capable  of  being  adapted  to  ad- 
vanced thought.  Similarly,  such  a  widespread  concep- 
tion as  the  incarnation  of  a  god  in  a  human  being,  play- 
ing an  important  role  in  Islamic  as  well  as  in  Christian 
theology,  is  only  a  further  extension  of  the  Animistic 
point  of  view  which  in  another  form  leads  to  the  deifica- 
tion of  earthly  rulers  in  whom  the  spirit  of  the  god  has 
taken  up  his  abode,  just  as  the  political  doctrine  of  the 
divine  right  of  kings,  accepted  even  by  so  extreme  a 
sceptic  as  Hobbes  as  at  least  possessing  academic 
value,  is  merely  a  final  outcome  of  primitive  Animism. 
Nor  would  it  be  difficult  to  trace  the  doctrine  of  con- 
ception without  carnal  intercourse  which  leads  in 
Christian  theology  to  the  twofold  descent  of  Jesus,  in 
the  spirit  and  in  the  flesh,  to  Animistic  views  of  life. 
Sir  James  G.  Frazer  brings  illustrations  in  plenty  of 
the  various  ways  in  which  primitive  peoples  supposed 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS       96 

it  possible  for  the  life  spirit  to  enter  the  body — through 
the  ear  or  the  mouth  or  the  leg  or  by  inhaling  the  sa- 
voury smell  of  roast  fish/  trees,  animals  or  plants  may 
cause  conception. 

When  we  pass  to  the  ritual  of  advanced  religions  of 
antiquity  we  encounter  on  all  sides  practices  that  have 
their  rise  in  primitive  Animistic  conceptions.  The 
widespread  view  of  the  liver  as  the  seat  of  the  soul  ^ 
leads  to  elaborate  systems  of  divination  through  the 
inspection  of  the  liver  and  animal  sacrifices  to  the  gods. 
Incantation  resting  on  the  vital  power  inherent  in 
words  finds  its  final  expression  in  the  subtle  doctrine  of 
the  Logos.  Astrology,  based  on  the  identification  of 
the  gods  with  stars  which  is  again  an  extension  of  the 
Animistic  conception  regarding  the  sun  and  moon, 
leads  to  peopling  the  heaven  with  the  spirits  of  the 
dead,  who  after  separation  from  the  body  mount  to  the 
abode  of  the  gods.  Even  when  we  reach  the  monothe- 
istic faiths  we  do  not  escape  from  the  meshes  of  Ani- 
mistic points  of  view  for  the  supreme  power  is  in  the 
popular  mind  invested  with  a  personality  not  dissimilar 
from  that  associated  by  him  with  human  life,  though 
raised  to  the  nth  power  of  superiority.  And  if  fol- 
lowing the  thought  of  a  central  power  in  another  direc- 
tion we  reach  a  pantheistic  conception  of  the  divine, 
what  is  this  but  the  diffusion  of  the  vital  essence 
throughout  the  visible  and  invisible  universe? 

II 

Now  with  such  a  conception  of  life  expressing  itself 
in  such  various  forms,  we  will  be  prepared  to  find  in 

^Attis,  Osiris  and  Adonis,  Volume  i,  page  102. 

^  See  the  author's  essay  on  "  The  Liver  as  the  Seat  of  the  Soul," 
in  Studies  in  the  History  of  Religions  in  honor  of  C.  H.  Toy, 
(New  York,  1912,  pp.  143-168). 


96         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  case  of  the  Babylonians  and  Assyrians  a  striking 
continuity  between  earher  and  later  views  of  life  after 
death.  The  modification  that  earlier  conceptions  un- 
dergo, so  far  as  we  are  able  to  trace  them  in  literature 
and  in  certain  practices,  never  leave  the  main  highway 
of  Animistic  beliefs. 

So  far  as  the  evidence  goes,  burial  of  the  dead  was 
the  earliest  and  remained  the  sole  method  of  disposing 
of  the  dead;  and  this  applies  to  Sumerians  as  well  as 
to  Akkadians  ^ — the  two  ethnic  elements  that  compose 
the  population  of  the  Euphrates  Valley  and  through 
the  commingling  of  which  a  high  order  of  civilization, 
gradually  spreading  northvv^ards,  is  evolved.  It  was 
a  natural  outcome  wherever  burial  was  the  prevailing 
custom  to  picture  all  the  dead  as  gathered  in  a  great 
hollow  somewhere  below  the  surface  of  the  earth. 
The  place  was  known  as  Arali  among  the  Sumerians 
and  passed  over  to  the  Akkadians  under  the  form  of 
Arallii.  The  etymology  of  the  word  is  unknown,  but 
ideographic  designations  like  E-Kur  Bad,  ''  Mountain 
House  of  the  Dead  "  leave  no  doubt  as  to  the  nature  of 
the  conception.  E-Kur  {''  mountain  house  ")  becomes 
in  Sumerian  the  generic  term  for  temple — presumably 
because  the  Sumerians,  as  a  people,  originally  dwelling 
in  a  mountainous  district '  before  coming  to  the  Eu- 
phrates Valley,  worshiped  their  gods  on  mountain  tops. 
Temples  being  places  of  assembly,  the  E-Kur  Bad  was, 
therefore,  the  assembly  place  of  the  dead.  Another 
designation  Uru-Gal  "great  city" — perhaps  a  word 
play  on  Arali — is  a  more  fanciful  one,  though  likewise 
suggesting  a  single  gathering  place.     Other  synonyms 

'The  Sumerian  is  the  name  for  the  non-Semitic  element  of 
the  population ;  Akkadian  for  the  Semitic  element. 

*  Perhaps  from  central  Asia  Minor  which  we  now  know  was 
at  a  very  early  period  a  great  gathering  place  of  many  peoples. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS       97 

in  Akkadian  are  bU  muti  ''  house  of  the  dead,"  nakbaru 
"  burial  place  "  and  irsitii,  L  e.,  ''  land  "  par  excellence, 
and  which  is  qualified  in  a  remarkable  description  of 
Arali  on  which  I  will  dwell  further  on  as  *'  the  land  of 
no  return."  From  these  and  other  designations  we 
are  justified  in  concluding  that  the  Sumerians  and 
Akkadians  alike  conceived  of  the  dead  as  forever  sepa- 
rated from  the  living — imprisoned,  as  it  were,  in  a 
great  mountain  or  subterranean  hollow.  The  descrip- 
tions that  have  come  down  to  us  of  Arali  show  that 
this  existence  after  death  was  marked  by  gloom  and 
inactivity.  The  dead  in  Arali  were  deprived  of  joy. 
Dense  darkness  enveloped  the  dead,  and  it  is  added 
that  *'  dust  is  their  nourishment  and  clay  their  food." 

Unable  by  virtue  of  the  Animistic  compulsion  to 
conceive  of  vitality  without  giving  the  dead  some  ma- 
terial shape,  poetic  fancy  pictured  the  dead  as  ''  clothed 
with  wings  like  birds."  The  single  positive  attribute 
of  the  dead  was  consciousness,  but  this  consciousness  is 
not  viewed  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction.  The  Su- 
merians and  Akkadians  loved  life,  because  it  spelled 
activity.  There  is,  therefore,  a  prevailing  note  of  sad- 
ness whenever  in  myths,  legends,  hymns  and  prayers 
death  is  referred  to.  Those  in  distress  pray  that  life 
may  be  granted  in  order  that  when  released  from  mis- 
ery and  suffering  they  may  praise  the  gods. 

"  Lengthen  my  days  !     Grant  me  life !  " 

is  a  cry  which  like  a  refrain  resounds  through  a  special 
class  of  penitential  hymns '  which  picture  a  sufferer  as 
beseeching  the  divine  throne.  The  kings,  reflecting 
the  popular  view,  pray  for  long  life  as  a  sign  of  divine 

"  See,    for    examples,    Jastrow,    Religion-    of    Babylonia    and 
Assyria,  chap,  xviii. 


98         EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

favour  to  their  dynasty.  We  fail  to  encounter  any 
trace  of  a  feeling  of  resignation  at  the  approach  of 
death.  On  the  contrary,  the  attitude  is  one  bordering 
on  despair,  for  fear  that  an  offended  deity  apparently 
deaf  to  one's  appeal  is  about  to  permit  the  demon  of 
disease  to  carry  his  victim  down  to  Arali.  Perhaps 
the  most  significant  testimony  to  the  general  horror 
which  the  thought  of  death  aroused  is  to  be  found  in 
a  tale  attached  to  the  Gilgamesh  Epic — a  composite 
production  °  in  which  various  myths  have  been  com- 
bined with  historical  traditions  grouped  around  two 
heroic  figures  of  the  past — Enkidu  and  Gilgamesh. 
The  two  heroes  after  a  hostile  encounter  become  fast 
friends  and  engage  in  a  number  of  adventures.  En- 
kidu is  smitten  with  disease  for  offending  the  goddess 
Ishtar  and  after  lingering  for  twelve  days  succumbs. 
Gilgamesh  weeps  bitterly  and  dreads  that  the  same  fate 
may  overtake  him. 

"  I  myself  will  die  and  will  I  not  then  be  like  Enkidu? 
Woe  has  entered  my  heart. 
I  fear  death — therefore,  I  wander  across  the  fields." 

Gilgamesh  begins  a  long  series  of  wanderings  in  the 
hope  of  finding  some  way  to  escape  from  death.  To 
all  whom  he  meets,  he  recounts  the  story  of  Enkidu's 
death  and  his  fear  of  meeting  the  same  fate: 

"  My  friend  Enkidu  whom  I  loved  has  become  dust. 
Will  I  not  be  like  him — lying  down. 
Never  to  rise  up  again — never  more?" 

Unable  to  throw  off  this  fear,  he  has  recourse  to 
invoking  the  shade  of  Enkidu.     He  wishes  to  find  out 

'  vSee  Jastrow,  ibid..  Chap,  xxiii.  and  for  a  more  recent  discus- 
sion of  the  origin  and  growth  of  the  Epic,  Jastrow  and  Clay,  An 
Old  Babylonian  Version  of  the  Gilgamesh  Epic,  Yale  University 
Press,  1921,  pp.  32-52. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS       99 

for  himself  how  the  dead  fare  In  Arali.  The  god  Ea, 
always  depicted  as  the  friend  and  helper  of  mankind, 
grants  Gilgamesh's  request  for  a  sight  of  his  friend. 
Nergal,  the  guardian  of  the  realm  of  the  dead,  opens  a 
hole  and  the  iiHikku  of  Enkidu  rises  up  "  like  a  wind 
out  of  the  earth,"  as  the  text  reads.  Gilgamesh,  al- 
most reconciled  to  his  fate  of  becoming  a  prisoner  like 
all  mortals  in  Arali,  wishes  at  least  to  ascertain  the 
conditions  under  which  the  dead  continue  their  shad- 
owy existence: 

"  Tell  me,  my  friend,  tell  me,  my  friend ! 
The  law  of  the  earth  which  thou  hast  experienced, 
tell  me ! " 

Mournfully  the  answer  comes: 

"  I  cannot  tell  thee,  my  friend,  I  cannot  tell  thee. 
If  I  were  to  tell  thee  the  law  of  the  earth  which 

I  have  experienced, 
[With  me  (  ?)  ]  '  thou  wouldst  sit  down  to  weep  ; 
[With  thee(  ?)  ]  I  would  sit  down  and  weep." 

The  text  at  this  point  becomes  defective,  but  so 
much  is  clear,  that  Enkidu  goes  on  to  contrast  the  joy 
which  he  had  with  his  friends  while  his  heart  was  still 
beating  with  the  sorrow  at  the  thought  of  their  bodies 
being  turned  to  dust. 

"  Worms  eat  him  whose  touch  once  brought  thee  joy." 

There  is  only  one  thing  that  one  can  do  to  lighten 
the  sorrow  of  those  who  have  passed  through  the  por- 
tals of  death — to  provide  a  proper  burial,  which  in- 
cludes keeping  the  memory  of  the  dead  alive  by  liba- 
tions and  by  food  offerings.  Those  who  are  thus 
cared  for  rest  on  a  couch  and  drink  pure  water: 

'  Restored  words  are  placed  in  brackets. 


100       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

"  But  he  whose  corpse  is  thrown  into  the  open, 
His  etimmu  ("  shade  " )  does  not  rest  in  the  earth,. 
He  whose  etimmu  has  no  caretaker 
Is  forced  to  eat  the  offal  that  is  thrown  into 
the  street." 

Such  descriptions  obviously  must  not  be  taken  too 
literally.  Their  significance  lies  in  the  general  picture 
that  they  convey  of  the  depressing  thoughts  aroused  by 
the  thought  of  the  dismal  fate  of  the  dead  and  of  the 
attempt  to  soften  this  thought  by  inculcating  a  proper 
regard  for  the  care  of  the  dead,  so  that  they  may  not 
at  least  suffer  the  pangs  of  hunger  and  thirst. 

Offerings  to  the  dead,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  play  a 
prominent  part  in  the  Babylonian-Assyrian  ritual. 
The  nearest  relative  becomes  the  nek  me  "  the  libation 
pourer  "  on  whom  the  obligation  rested  to  satisfy  the 
simple  needs  of  the  dead.  In  accordance  with  this  be- 
lief of  the  misery  endured  by  those  who  did  not  receive 
proper  burial,  we  find  in  historical  inscriptions  refer- 
ences to  the  punishment  meted  out  to  enemies  by  per- 
mitting their  bones  to  rot  on  the  field  of  battle.  In 
one  instance,  the  Assyrian  king,  Ashurbanapal,  in  or- 
der to  set  an  example  of  Assyrian  ''Schrecklichkeit "' 
for  future  ages,  tells  ^  how  he  exhumed  the  remains  of 
Elamitic  kings,  exposed  them  to  the  sun,  and  brought 
the  skeletons  to  his  capital  as  a  trophy  of  war.  The 
ethnme  were  thus  deprived  of  rest  and  of  the  comfort 
of  being  provided  with  food  (kispu)  and  libations 
(nek  me).  The  severest  curse,  therefore,  that  could 
be  pronounced  on  any  one  was  that  "  his  corpse  may 
be  cast  before  his  enemies,  his  bones  be  carried  away 
and  his  body  be  without  burial." "  Similarly  in  the 
Assyrian  Code  of  laws,  recently  published  and  dating 

•v.  Rawlinson,  PI.  6,  Col.  6,  70. 

•  See  V.  Rawlinson,  PI.  61,  Col.  6,  54-55. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIANS     101 

from  c.  1500  B.  c,  we  find  the  punishment  meted 
out  to  a  woman  who,  by  submitting  to  malpractice, 
brings  about  an  abortion,  that  she  be  impaled  and  *'  be 
without  burial."  " 

III 

Poetic  fancy  playing  around  primitive  conception 
leads  to  further  speculations  regarding  the  world  of 
the  dead.  So,  for  example,  in  a  famous  tale  of  the 
descent  of  the  goddess  Ishtar  to  Arali,  she  is  repre- 
sented as  passing  through  seven  gates,  each  guarded  by 
a  keeper  before  she  reaches  the  palace  in  Arali  inhab- 
ited by  Eresh-Kigal,  "  the  lady  of  the  great  land  " 
whose  Akkadian  name  Allatu  finds  a  strange  counter- 
part in  an  old  Arabic  goddess  el-Lat,  the  female  con- 
sort of  Allah. 

The  story,  in  the  form  in  which  we  have  it,  reverts 
to  a  Sumerian  original "  and  is  clearly  a  nature  myth, 
symbolizing  the  change  from  the  summer  season  with 
its  glory  and  splendour  to  bare  winter  where  nature  is 
stripped  as  it  were  of  its  raiments.  Ishtar,  the  god- 
dess of  earth,  who  presides  over  the  fields  that  yield 
their  products  out  of  the  seeds  laid  in  the  womb  of  the 
earth,  is  the  symbol  of  vegetation  and  fertility  in  the 
tale,  but  even  Ishtar  must  submit  to  the  inexorable  law. 
She  loses  her  vigour  with  the  waning  of  the  summer 
season  until  she  appears  to  be  held  in  the  light  embrace 
of  death.  The  journey  to  the  realm  of  the  dead — 
which  for  mortals  is  the  "  land  of  no  return  " — sym- 
bolizes the  steady  approach  of  winter.     The   seven 

^•^  See  the  translation  by  the  writer  in  the  Journal  of  the  Ameri- 
can Oriental  Society,  Vol.  41,  No.  i,  p.  47. 

"A  fragment  of  the  Sumerian  prototype  has  been  found  and 
published  by  Dr.  Arno  Poebel  in  his  Historical  and  Grammatical 
Texts  (Philadelphia,  1914),  No.  2^. 


102        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

gates  are  so  many  stages  in  the  journey.  At  each  gate 
the  gatekeeper  removes  some  ornament  from  the  god- 
dess or  a  part  of  her  clothing,  first  the  great  crown  on 
her  head,  then  in  turn  her  earrings,  her  necklace,  the 
ornaments  on  her  breast,  the  girdle  of  her  loins  set 
with  precious  stones,  the  spangles  on  her  hands  and 
feet  and  finally  the  loin  cloth,  so  that  when  Ishtar 
arrives  at  the  palace  of  her  ''  sister,"  Eresh-Kigal,  she 
stands  naked  before  her.  The  symbolical  character  of 
the  tale  is  further  illustrated  by  the  answer  that  the 
gatekeeper  at  each  gate  gives  to  Ishtar's  question  as  to 
the  reason  for  thus  stripping  her  of  her  ornaments  and 
clothing: 

"  Such  are  the  decrees  of  Eresh-Kigal." 

IV 

The  laws  of  nature  demand  that  the  earth  after 
showing  herself  in  all  the  glory  of  summer  must  shed 
her  lustre.  She  must  enter  upon  a  period  of  apparent 
decay.  Ishtar  is  smitten  with  wasting  disease — sick- 
ness of  the  eyes,  of  the  loins,  of  the  feet,  heart  and 
head,  aye,  throughout  her  body.  The  symbolism  of 
the  loss  of  vigour  with  the  approach  of  the  wintry  sea- 
son is  extended  to  animate  nature.  Men  and  animals 
cease  to  be  productive.  Another  interesting  touch  in 
the  poem — reflecting  the  attitude  of  Sumerians  and 
Babylonians  toward  death — is  the  portrayal  of  the  hos- 
tility between  the  two  sisters,  between  Ishtar,  the  god- 
dess of  the  living,  and  Eresh-Kigal,  the  mistress  of 
Arali.  They  fly  at  each  other's  throats.  Eresh-Kigal 
is  enraged  at  Ishtar's  invasion  of  her  domain.  She 
fears  instinctively  that  Ishtar  may  rob  her  of  her  su- 
preme position  in  the  nether  world,  that  the  goddess  of 
the  living  may  carry  off  the  dead  from  Arali. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIANS     103 

Eresh-KIgal,  therefore,  gives  orders  to  smash  the 
palace,  to  shatter  its  portals  and  to  force  Ishtar  out  of 
Arali  by  sprinkling  her  with  the  waters  of  life.  And 
so  Ishtar  retraces  her  steps,  passes  through  the  seven 
gates,  at  each  of  which  she  receives  back  the  garments 
and  ornaments  which  on  entering  she  was  obliged  to 
leave  behind,  and  emerges  once  more  to  the  earth  in 
all  her  splendour. 

The  closing  lines  of  the  poem  which  set  forth  its 
purpose  are  unfortunately  so  mutilated  as  to  baffle  at- 
tempts at  a  translation."  Only  so  much  is  clear  that 
the  poem  seems  to  have  been  composed  for  recitation 
at  a  festival  of  Tammuz  in  honour  of  the  dead.  Could 
the  story  have  suggested,  as  some  scholars  believe,  the 
possibility  that  as  Ishtar  emerges  from  the  world  of 
the  dead,  so  human  beings  who  have  passed  through 
the  portals  of  death  may  hope  for  a  release?  Hardly 
— for  there  is  nothing  in  the  entire  realm  of  Baby- 
lonian or  Assyrian  Literature  to  suggest  the  belief  in 
such  a  resurrection  of  the  dead.  Rather  the  point  of 
view  is  that  of  which  Job  complains  (14:  7-12)  : 

"  For  there  is  hope  for  a  tree  if  cut  down, 
That  its  tendril  will  not  cease, 
Though  its  root  wax  old  in  the  earth. 
And  its  stock  die  in  the  ground ; 
Through  the  scent  of  water  it  will  bud, 
And  put  forth  branches  like  a  shoot. 
But  man  dies  and  passes  away, 
He  expires  and  how  is  it  with  him? 
Man  when  he  lies  down  will  not  rise, 
Till  the  heavens  be  no  more,  they  shall  not  awake." 

Nature  revives — after  apparent  death.     Ishtar  is  re- 

*^  A  recently  published  Ass3^rian  duplicate  of  the  text  Ebeling, 
Keilschrifttexte  mis  Assur,  religiosen  Inhalts,  Part  I,  No.  i ;  see 
also  Part  4,  p.  321  (corrections  and  additions)  is  likewise 
mutilated  at  the  close. 


104       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

leased  from  Arali,  but  not  man.  All  that  one  can  do 
for  those  who  have  departed  this  life  is  to  recall  their 
memories  on  the  festival  of  Tammuz — ^to  sing  laments 
and  to  offer  the  sacrifice  for  the  dead. 

There  are  other  tales  in  Babylonian  Literature  that 
illustrate  the  continuance  of  the  primitive  point  of 
view — that  death  is  the  fate  decreed  for  mankind  from 
the  beginning  of  time  and  that  the  laws  of  nature  are 
unchangeable  and  inexorable.  In  the  Gilgamesh  Epic 
there  is  a  significant  passage  bearing  on  this  point. 
Gilgamesh,  in  his  quest  for  escape  from  the  fate  which 
has  overtaken  his  companion  Enkidu,  comes  after  a 
long  wandering  through  a  dark  forest,  filled  with  all 
kinds  of  dangers,  to  the  seashore.  There  he  encoun- 
ters a  maiden  who  thus  addresses  him: 

**  Why  dost  thou  wander  from  place  to  place  ? 
The  life  which  thou  seekest  thou  shalt  not  find. 
When  the  gods  created  man,  they  decreed  death 

for  him, 
Life  they  kept  in  their  own  hands." 

And  then  follows  the  advice  to  enjoy  life  while  it 
lasts.  Much  as  in  the  Biblical  Book  of  Ecclesiastes 
(9:7-9),  Gilgamesh  is  told, 

"  Let  thy  garments  be  white, 
Let  oil  not  be  lacking  for  thy  head, 
Daily  fill  thy  belly, 
Daily  enjoy  a  feast. 

Live  joyfully  with  the  wife  of  thy  bosom. 
With" the  child  at  thy  side."'' 

A  strange  materialistic  point  of  view,  though  also  be- 
traying a  sane  doctrine  that  life  is  made  for  enjoy- 
ment, and  that  the  thought  of  death  should  not  deprive 
one  of  the  joy  of  living. 

''See  Jastrow-Clay,  An  Old  Babylonian  Version  of  the  Gilga- 
mesh Epic,  New  Haven,  1920,  p.  12. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIANS     106 

V 

And  yet  there  are  some  indications — though  faint — 
that  the  primitive  view  did  not  altogether  satisfy  a 
more  advanced  age  which,  impressed  by  man's  excep- 
tional place  in  nature,  felt  that  at  least  an  explanation 
was  needed  how  man  came  to  be  subject  to  death.  Sir 
James  G.  Frazer  in  his  remarkable  work.  Belief  in 
Immortality,^*  has  gathered  from  many  sources  the  evi- 
dence for  the  belief  that  man  was  at  one  time  destined 
for  immortality,  but  forfeited  it  by  an  error,  or  by  a 
failure  to  pursue  a  certain  course,  or  through  some 
mishap.  There  is  a  whole  series  of  stories  according 
to  which  death  came  into  the  world  because  men  re- 
jected a  certain  kind  of  food  which,  if  they  had  eaten 
it,  would  have  made  them  immortal.  Instead  they  se- 
lected a  food  externally  more  attractive,  but  which 
brought  death  in  its  wake.  So  among  the  natives  of 
Piso,  a  district  of  Central  Celebes,  it  is  related  that  at 
a  time  when  the  sky  was  near  the  earth,  the  creator 
used  to  let  down  his  gifts  to  men  at  the  end  of  a  rope. 
One  day  he  lowered  a  stone,  but  the  first  ancestors  of 
the  human  race  declined  it  and  asked  for  something 
else.  So  the  creator  let  down  a  banana,  which  was 
more  to  the  liking  of  the  human  pair.  Then  a  voice 
called  out:  ''  Because  you  chose  the  banana  your  life 
shall  be  as  its  life.  When  the  banana  tree  has  off- 
spring, the  parent  stem  dies.  So  shall  you  die  and 
your  children  step  into  your  place.  Had  you  chosen 
the  stone,  your  life  would  have  been  like  the  life  of  the 
stone — changeless  and  immortal."  Elsewhere,  among 
the  natives  of  Nias,  an  island  off  Sumatra,  death  was 
believed  to  have  come  to  man  because  the  original  an- 
cestor ate  bananas  instead  of  river  crabs  to  satisfy 

"I.,  pp.  72,  seq. 


106        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

their  hunger.     Had  he  selected  the  latter,  human  be- 
ings would  have  cast  their  skins  like  crabs  and  never 
died.     Another  type  of  stories  rests  on  a  change  in  a 
command  given  by  the  Creator.     In  Annam,  the  na- 
tives relate  that  Ngochoang,  who  dwelt  in  heaven,  sent 
a  messenger  to  announce  to  man  that  when  he  grows 
old  he  will  cast  his  skin  and  renew  his  vitality,  but 
when  serpents  become  old,  they  shall  die  and  be  laid  in 
coffins.     The  messenger  did  as  he  was  told,  but  a 
brood  of  serpents  heard  this  and   fell  into  a   fury. 
They  said  to  the  messenger:  ''  Repeat  this  order,  but 
in  contrary  fashion,  or  we  will  bite  you."    That  fright- 
ened the  messenger,  who  accordingly  changed  the  mes- 
sage.    Hence  it  happens  that  when  man  grows  old  he 
dies  and  is  laid  in  a  coffin,  whereas  the  serpent  casts  off 
his  skin  and  constantly  enjoys  a  new  life.     A  third 
type  of  stories  involves  the  sending  out  of  two  mes- 
sengers, one  with  a  message  that  man  should  live  for- 
ever, the  other  with  the  message  that  they  would  die ; 
and    the    latter    messenger    invariably    arrives    first. 
Among  the  Zulus,  the  two  messengers  are  the  chame- 
leon and  the   lizard.     The  chief   deity  Unkulunkulu 
(''the  old  old  one")  decided  to  let  man  live  forever 
and  sent  the  chameleon  to  make  this  announcement, 
but  afterwards  Unkulunkulu  thought  better  of  it  and 
sent  the  lizard  to  announce  that  men  will  die.     The 
chameleon  loitered  by  the  way  to  eat  berries  or,  accord- 
ing to  another  version,  he  filled  his  belly  with  flies  and 
fell  asleep.     The  lizard  ran  posthaste  and  arrived  first 
with  its  fateful  message.     As  a  consequence  the  Zulus 
hate  both  the  lizard  and  the  chameleon,  the  one  for 
being  so  fast  and  the  other  for  being  so  slow. 

Among  the  Babylonians  we  have  a  tale  that  evi- 
dently belongs  to  the  same  category  of  stories  told  to 
account  for  the  presence  of  death. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIAKS     107 

Omitting  minor  features  of  this  tale ''  concerning  a 
certain  Adapa,  a  fisherman  who  breaks  the  wings  of 
the  south  wind  that  threatened  to  drive  him  into  the 
sea,  we  find  the  chief  scene  to  take  place  before  Anu, 
the  god  of  heaven,  who  summons  Adapa  to  answer  for 
his  crime.  Ea,  the  god  of  the  waters,  who  is  the  pro- 
tector of  Adapa,  instructs  Adapa  how  to  conduct  him- 
self in  the  presence  of  Anu.  At  the  gate  of  heaven  he 
will  find  two  gods,  Tammuz  and  Gishzida.  In  order 
to  secure  their  sympathy  Adapa  is  to  clothe  himself  in 
mourning  garb  and  when  asked  for  the  reason  should 
say: 

"  Two  gods  have  disappeared  from  earth, 
Therefore  do  I  appear  thus." 

These  two  gods  are,  of  course,  Tammuz  and  Gish- 
zida— vegetation  deities  who,  like  Ishtar,  disappear 
after  the  summer  season  has  passed.  Ea  furthermore 
instructs  his  favourite  not  to  accept  food  that  will  be 
offered  him  when  he  comes  to  Anu,  for  it  will  be  the 
food  of  death,  nor  to  accept  drink,  for  it  will  be  the 
water  of  death: 

**  They  will  offer  thee  a  garment,  put  it  on. 
They  will  offer  thee  oil,  anoint  thyself." 

Had  Ea's  plan  succeeded,  mankind  would  have  es- 
caped death,  but  alas!  Ea  proposes,  but  some  other 
god  disposes.  Tammuz  and  Gishzida,  out  of  sym- 
pathy for  Adapa,  interceded  on  his  behalf  with  Anu, 
whose  anger  is  appeased.  As  a  sign  of  grace  it  is  de- 
cided to  offer  Adapa  food  of  life  and  water  of  life,  but 
Adapa,  not  aware  of  the  change  and  recalling  the  in- 
structions given  to  him,  refuses  both  in  the  belief  that 

^®  See  Jastrow,  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  Boston, 
1898,  pp.  544-555. 


108       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  food  and  drink  will  bring  on  death.  He  puts  on 
the  garment  that  is  brought  to  him  and  anoints  him- 
self with  the  oil  offered,  but  alas !  he  has  refused  the 
chance  of  immortality  and  is  thus  condemned  to  en- 
counter death.  So  man  by  an  act  of  obedience  on  his 
part,  but  by  a  deception  on  the  part  of  the  gods,  for- 
feits the  possibility  of  being  like  the  gods — immortal. 
We  are  reminded,  of  course,  of  the  Biblical  tale  in 
the  third  chapter  of  Genesis,  likewise,  in  the  original 
form,  told  to  account  for  the  presence  of  death  in  the 
world,  but  which,  in  the  final  shape  that  it  assumed, 
became  the  medium  of  inculcating  the  lesson  of  obedi- 
ence to  the  divine  will  and,  in  further  development, 
became  the  basis  of  St.  Paul's  doctrine  of  sin  and  sal- 
vation. No  doubt  both  tales  revert  to  a  primitive 
stage  of  culture — as  do  the  many  similar  ones  collected 
by  Frazer — but  the  point  of  interest  for  us  is  that  old 
tales,  entwined  with  myth  and  symbolism,  become  the 
medium  of  illustrating  doctrines  that  arose  in  a  later 
age  of  reflection  and  speculation  on  the  mystery  of  life 
and  death.  The  tale  of  Adapa  is  intended  to  illustrate 
the  prevailing  belief,  as  expressed  in  the  speech  of  the 
maiden  to  Gilgamesh : 

"  When  the  gods  created  man,  death  they  decreed 
for  him. 
Life  they  kept  in  their  own  hands." 

Even  when  a  protector  of  humanity,  like  Ea,  plans 
to  avert  the  will  of  the  gods  he  is  foiled  in  his  en- 
deavour. Even  the  heroes — the  leaders  of  the  race — 
cannot  escape  the  common  fate  and  no  one  can  ascer- 
tain anything  about  death,  except  that  decent  burial 
and  care  of  the  dead  insures  to  them  as  much  comfort 
as  their  imprisonment  forever  in  Arali  will  permit 
them  to  enjoy. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIANS     109 

VI 

But  is  there,  then,  no  hope  of  a  release  from  the 
misery  of  being  condemned  to  consciousness  but  with- 
out activity  in  a  gloomy  subterranean  hollow  ?  Yes,  a 
glimmer  of  hope  is  held  out  that  those  singled  out  for 
special  favour  by  the  gods  may  be  transferred  to  a 
more  cheerful  place — to  a  distant  isle  situated  at  the 
confluence  of  the  streams.  It  is  again  the  Gilgamesh 
Epic  that  opens  tip  this  faint  ray  of  light  in  the  en- 
compassing darkness.  This  Epic,  comprising  in  its 
complete  form  twelve  tablets,  or  some  3,000  lines, 
is  the  literary  plum-pudding  of  ancient  Babylonia  and 
Assyria  in  which  some  of  the  choicest  tales  of  the 
remote  and  less  remote  past  have  'been  welded  together 
into  a  semblance  of  literai*y  unity.^^  A  critical  analysis 
reveals  the  composite  character  of  the  production  and 
shows  that  episodes,  having  originally  nothing  to  do 
with  Gilgamesh,  are  connected  with  the  exploits  of  the 
hero  by  artificial  links.  In  this  way,  incidental  to  the 
wanderings  of  the  hero  in  search  of  an  escape  from 
death,  the  story  is  introduced  of  a  destructive  flood 
which  wipes  out  all  mankind  with  the  exception  of  a 
favourite  of  the  god  Ea  to  whom  the  coming  of  the 
disaster  is  revealed  by  a  mysterious  message  which 
Ziugiddu,  "the  one  of  long  life,"  as  the  survivor  is 
called  in  the  Sumerian  prototype  of  the  tale,"  under- 
stands. Ziugiddu,  who  in  the  later  Semitic  or  Akka- 
dian form  becomes  Utnapishtim,  builds  a  house-boat 
on  which  he  and  his  family  with  all  their  belongings 

"  See  the  references  in  note  6. 

"  Discovered  and  published  by  Dr.  Arno  Poebel  Historical  and 
Gramrnatical  Texts  (University  of  Pennsylvania,  Museum  Pub- 
Hcations,  Vol.  V.,  1914)  No.  i,  Col.  4.  In  this  text  the  Deluge 
story  is  connected  with  a  Creation  myth  as  in  the  Book  of 
Genesis,  showing  that  its  incorporation  into  the  Gilgamesh  Epic 
is  of  later  date. 


110       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

take  refuge  and  thus  escape  the  common  destruction. 
At  the  close  of  a  terrific  storm  which  lasts  seven  days, 
in  which  all  mankind  perished,  Enlil,  the  god  of 
storms,  who  brought  on  the  catastrophe,  is  enraged 
upon  discovering  that  some  one  has  escaped,  but  his 
anger  is  calmed  by  Ea,  who  urges  him  in  future  to 
send  whatsoever  misfortunes  he  will — lions,  pestilence, 
famine — but  not  a  deluge: 

"  On  the  sinner  impose  his  sin. 
On  the  evil-doer  his  evil," 

but  mankind  as  a  whole  should  not  be  wiped  out. 

The  close  of  the  episode  bears  directly  on  our  sub- 
ject Utnapishtim,  who  tells  the  story  of  his  escape 
and  exceptional  fate  to  Gilgamesh,  says : 

"Ea"  entered  the  boat; 

Took  hold  of  my  hand  and  lifted  me  up." 

He  lifted  up  my  wife  and  made  her  kneel  at 
my  side, 

Touched  our  foreheads  and  stepped  between  us 
and  blessed  us : 

Hitherto  Utnapishtim  was  human, 

Now  Utnapishtim  shall  be  as  the  gods. 

And  Utnapishtim  shall  dwell  in  the  distance  at 
the  confluence  of  the  streams. 

Then  they  took  me  and  placed  me  in  the  dis- 
tance at  the  confluence  of  the  streams." 

Evidently  this  single  illustration  of  one  who  had  es- 
caped the  common  fate  was  intended  to  hold  out  the 
faint  hope  that,  under  exceptional  circumstances,  one 
may  avoid  imprisonment  in  Arali.  There  is,  however, 
little   consolation  to  be   found   in  an  exception  that 

'^  It  is  quite  certain  that  Ea  is  intended  by  the  deity  designated 
in  the  text  as  belu  or  "  lord." 

"Perhaps  in  the  sense  of  lifting  him  on  to  the  land. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS     111 

proves  the  rule.  It  would  be  hazardous,  therefore,  to 
conclude  from  the  story  of  Utnapishtim  that  the  Baby- 
lonians or  xA.ssyrians  had  taken  more  than  the  first  step 
leading  to  a  more  hopeful  view  of  life  after  death. 
The  mass  of  incantation  texts  which  date  from  the 
early  period  to  the  latest  show  the  persistence  of  the 
dread  inspired  by  the  approach  of  death,  due  to  the 
successful  attack  of  a  demon  or  of  a  group  of  demons, 
acting  as  messengers  of  gods  who  preside  over  Arali. 
A  separate  pantheon  of  the  lower  world  was  developed 
in  contrast  to  the  upper  realms,  which  divided  into 
three  zones  distributed  among  a  triad:  Anu,  who  as 
sun  god  became  the  controller  of  the  heavens;  Enlil, 
who  from  a  storm-god  expands  into  a  deity,  in  control 
of  the  earth  and  the  region  immediately  above  it ;  and 
Ea,  who  presides  over  the  waters  that  surround  the 
earth,  pictured  as  floating  like  a  rubber  ball  in  a  great 
sea.  The  upper  gods  are  on  the  whole  favourably  in- 
clined toward  mankind.  Evil,  sickness,  plagues,  and 
death  come  through  the  gods  of  the  lower  world. 
Nergal  and  his  consort  Ercsh-Kigal  are  surrounded  by 
a  court  of  deities  of  the  second  rank  and  by  myriads  of 
demons  ready  to  do  the  bidding  of  the  divine  pair,  who 
are  portrayed  in  myths  as  gloomy,  prone  to  anger  and 
hostile  to  m^ankind. 

VII 

We  have  an  interesting  tale,'"  showing  that  originally 
a  goddess — the  same  Eresh-Kigal  whom  we  encoun- 
tered in  the  tale  of  Ishtar's  descent  to  the  nether 
world, — was  the  head  of  the  pantheon  of  Arali.  She 
is  portrayed  as  ferocious  and  ever  ready  to  inflict  in- 
jury, precisety  as  in  the  tale  of  Ishtar.     She  offends 

^^  See  Jastrow,  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  Boston,  1898, 
pp.  5S4-5S6. 


112        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

Nergal,  the  god  of  pestilence  and  of  death,  who  in 
revenge  proposes  to  drag  her  from  the  throne.  He 
forces  his  way  into  the  domain  of  Eresh-Kigal,  station- 
ing a  watchman  at  each  of  the  fourteen  gates  through 
which  he  passes  in  order  to  avert  the  escape  of  the 
goddess.  When  he  bursts  into  her  presence  he  seizes 
her  by  the  hair  until  she  prays  for  mercy: 

"  Be  my  husband  and  I  will  be  your  wife, 
The  tables  of  wisdom  I  will  lay  in  your  hands, 
You  shall  be  master  and  I  shall  be  mistress." 

Nergal  accepts  the  offer,  kisses  Eresh-Kigal  and  wipes 
away  her  tears.  The  tale  is  of  interest  as  showing 
the  existence  of  tw^o  conceptions  of  the  pantheon  of 
Arali  that  have  been  here  combined,  one  in  which 
Nergal  was  ruler  and  the  other — probably  the  older 
one — in  which  this  distinction  was  accorded  to  a  god- 
dess. But  the  point  of  chief  interest  lies  in  the  de- 
scription of  the  divine  pair  whose  traits  appear  again 
in  the  large  army  of  demons  that  pass  through  the 
world  at  the  command  of  the  rulers  of  Arali,  bringing 
suffering  and  eventually  death  to  mankind.  The  be- 
lief in  these  demons  pervades  the  entire  literature  of 
Babylonia  and  Assyria  and  furnishes  sufficient  proof 
for  the  persistency  of  the  popular  views  regarding  the 
gloomy  fate  of  the  dead. 

The  deification  of  kings,  a  belief  which  we  encounter 
already  in  the  Sumerian  period  and  which  crops  up 
sporadically  in  later  times,  might  be  adduced  as  evi- 
dence that  there  existed  a  tendency  at  least  to  pass 
beyond  primitive  conceptions  of  the  life  after  death, 
but  it  is  the  special  position  accorded  to  rulers  as 
standing  nearer  to  the  gods  than  the  rest  of  mankind 
that  forms  the  chief  factor  in  giving  to  kings  occa- 
sionally the  epithet  of  a  god  and  in  erecting  statues  to 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYKIANS     113 

some  of  them,  as  was  done  to  the  gods  and  occasion- 
ally even  in  offering  sacrifices  to  them.  The  kings  are 
in  a  special  sense  the  offspring  of  the  gods  and  this 
relationship  is  frequently  stressed  in  official  annals 
even  when  actual  deification  did  not  take  place.  The 
assumption  of  Divine  descent  was  the  manner  in  which 
the  Akkadians  expressed  their  belief  that  the  kings 
acted  as  mediators  between  their  subjects  and  the 
gods,''  while  actual  deification  appears  to  be  rather  an 
instance  of  the  Sumerian  point  of  view.  And  yet 
even  among  the  Sumerians,  the  belief  never  went  so 
far  as  to  assume  that  kings  enjoyed  immortality  in  the 
sense  in  which  the  gods  were  immortal.  Deification 
partook  more  of  an  academic  character;  it  was  formal 
rather  than  real  and  at  all  events  exercised  no  influ- 
ence on  popular  beliefs  regarding  the  general  fate  of 
mankind  after  death  had  extinguished  all  activity.  As 
already  pointed  out,  there  is  a  striking  uniformity  in 
the  attitude  toward  death  in  all  periods  of  Babylo- 
nian-xAssyrian  history — from  the  earliest  to  the  latest. 
So  strong  appears  to  have  been  the  hold  of  primitive 
beliefs  that  even  the  development  of  an  elaborate  as- 
trological literature,''  which  rested  upon  an  identifica- 
tion of  the  great  gods  with  the  planets  and  of  the 
minor  ones  with  stars  did  not  lead  to  the  belief  in  an 
upper  realm  as  the  abode  of  the  dead,  as  happened 
when  the  Babylonian-Assyrian  method  of  divining  the 
future  through  the  observation  of  the  movements  of 
the  heavens  passed  westward.'"  There  is  no  Intimation 
throughout  the   realm   of   Babylonian- Assyrian  liter- 

"A  widespread  view  which  imderHes  kingship  In  its  earlier 
manifestations  wherever  we  encounter  it. 

"  See  Jastrow,  Aspects  of  Religious  Belief  and  Practice  in 
Babylonia  and  Assyria,  New  York,  191 1,  Lecture  IV. 

^'See  Cumont,  Astrology  and  Religion  Among  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  New  York,  1912,  Lectures  III  and  V. 


114        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

ature  of  a  heaA^enly  home  for  departed  spirits  who 
had  merited  a  better  fate  than  imprisonment  in  the 
nether  world;  and  this  is  all  the  more  amazing  when 
we  consider  the  comparatively  early  period  at  which 
the  step  was  taken  of  identifying  the  goddess  Ishtar 
with  the  planet  Venus,  Marduk  with  Jupiter,  Nebo 
with  Mercury,.  Nergal  with  Mars  and  Ninib  with  Sat- 
urn. One  might  have  supposed  that  such  a  purely 
abstract  conception  of  deities  that  in  the  Animistic 
stage  were  associated  with  manifestations  of  nature 
having  nothing  to  do  with  the  heavens  as  in  the  case 
of  Ishtar,  who  is  a  distinct  earth  goddess,  or  of  Nebo 
who  was  in  his  origin  either  an  agricultural  or  a  water 
deity,  would  have  led  to  further  speculations,  suggest- 
ing at  least  that  the  favourites  of  the  gods  would  be 
transferred  to  the  heavens  after  they  had  closed  their 
earthly  careers.  Astrology  led  in  the  later  period  to 
the  rise  of  a  genuine  science  of  astronomy,  largely 
stimulated  by  contact  with  Greek  culture  after  the 
middle  of  the  fourth  century  b.  c,  but  not  to  escha- 
tological  speculations  such  as  we  find  among  the  Jews 
in  the  second  century  and  later  among  Greeks  and 
Romans  and  in  early  Christianity.'*  The  reason  for 
this  rather  remarkable  stability  of  primitive  views  of 
life  after  death,  despite  steady  intellectual  advance 
and  despite  accompanying  changes  in  social  standards, 
is  to  be  sought,  as  it  seems  to  me,  in  the  absence  of 
any  pronounced  ethical  factor  in  the  view  held  of  the 
gods,  or  perhaps  we  had  better  say  in  the  weakness  of 
ethical  conceptions  unfolded — despite  cultural  advance 
— in  the  relationship  of  the  gods  to  mankind.  Not 
only  do  the  gods  of  the  lower  world  remain  forbid- 
ding in  their  aspect  and  cruel  in  their  nature,  but  those 

"  See  C.  H.  H.  Charles,  A  Critical  History  of  the  Doctrine  of  a 
Future  Life,  London,  1899,  Chapters  V-VIH  and  XI. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYEIANS     115 

of  the  upper  world,  while  susceptible  to  appeals  for 
help  and  often  addressed  as  merciful,  yet  continue  to 
be  arbitrary.  One  could  never  be  sure  of  the  gods. 
They  were  always  prone  to  anger;  and  often  they 
showed  themselves  unfriendly  without  apparent  cause. 
Strength,  exercised  at  will,  continued  to  be  their  chief 
trait  and  as  long  as  this  was  the  case,  a  genuine  ethical 
development  of  the  god  idea  was  checked  or  at  most 
was  capable  of  a  limited  development  only.  The  one 
aim  of  life  was  to  try  to  keep  the  gods  in  good  humour 
by  offering  them  the  homage  that  they  craved.  Man 
was  created,  according  to  the  main  version  of  the 
Babylonian-Assyrian  creation  story,  to  do  the  service 
of  the  gods.  A  recent  publication,  completing  to  a 
large  degree  the  account  of  the  creation  of  man,  brings 
this  out  even  more  clearly  than  we  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve.'" After  the  rebellion  of  the  lower  order  of  di- 
vine beings — headed  by  Kingu  and  Tiamat — against 
the  superior  gods,  the  latter  decided  upon  the  advice 
of  Ea  to  create  mankind  to  take  the  place  of  the  lower 
order  of  divine  beings  and  to  build  temples  in  which 
the  higher  gods  might  be  worshiped.  The  gods  need 
homage  and  since  Kingu  and  Tiamat  and  their  fol- 
lowers had  proven  false,  a  new  order  was  to  be  estab- 
lished with  mankind  to  take  the  place  of  the  rebel 
host. 

VIII 

With  such  as  the  chief  motive  for  man's  excep- 
tional place  in  nature,  it  is  not  surprising  that  a  doc- 
trine of  rewards  and  punishments  in  a  future  exist- 
ence to  compensate  man  for  the  failure  of  justice  in 

''Ebe'lmg,  Keilschrifttexte  mis  Assiir  (Part  4)  Text  No.  164. 
See  the  translation  in  the  third  edition  of  Barton,  Archaeology  of 
the  Bible,  Philadelphia,  1920. 


116       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

this  one  should  never  have  been  evolved  by  the  Baby- 
lonian and  Assyrian  schoolmen.  The  favour  of  the 
gods  was  shown  by  happiness,  prosperity,  good  health 
and  long  life  in  this  world.  As  long  as  one  enjoyed 
the  favour  of  the  gods,  things  went  well,  but  when 
misfortune  came  on  in  any  form  the  conclusion  was 
drawn  that  some  deity  had  been  offended,  whether  for 
a  good  cause  or  without  apparent  reason.  Under  such 
conditions  a  consciousness  of  guilt  was  developed  but, 
as  the  hymns  and  prayers  show,  a  ritualistic  misstep 
was  placed  on  a  par  with  an  ethical  transgression ;  and 
often  the  penitent  appealing  for  divine  mercy  states 
that  he  does  not  know  what  wrong  he  has  done  nor 
what  particular  deity  he  had  offended.''  The  Baby- 
lonian-Assyrian religion  may  then  be  characterized  as 
an  instance  of  an  arrested  ethical  development  in  the 
unfolding  of  religious  beHefs,  which  likewise  brought 
it  about  that  the  jurisdiction  even  of  the  most  merciful 
and  loving  gods  was  limited  to  this  world.  When  one 
passed  beyond  the  portals  of  life  into  the  shadowy 
realm  where  Nergal  and  Eresh-Kigal  held  sway,  even 
Ea  whose  role  in  the  pantheon  is  that  of  the  protector 
of  mankind  par  excellence  is  powerless  to  be  of 
further  service.  One  cannot  even  praise  the  gods  of 
the  upper  world  when  one  reaches  Arali,  as  little  as, 
according  to  earlier  psalms,  one  cannot  sing  the  praises 
of  Yahweh  when  in  Sheol  (Ps.  6,  6).  The  Hebrews 
passed  beyond  this  primitive  view  by  virtue  of  the 
complete  infusion  of  the  ethical  idea  into  the  concep- 
tion of  Divine  government  of  the  universe,  though 
even  among  them  centuries  had  elapsed  after  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  great  Hebrew  prophets,  who  first  em- 

'^  See  examples  in  Jastrow,  Religion  of  Babylonia  and  Assyria, 
Boston,  1898,  pp.  320  seq.;  and  In  the  German  (enlarged)  edition, 
I.  pp.  99-106. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  ASSYRIANS     117 

phasized  that  Yahweh  rules  his  people  by  self-imposed 
laws  of  justice  and  righteousness,  before  the  corollary 
was  drawn  extending  this  rule  beyond  the  grave.  The 
high-water  mark  of  the  Babylonian  conception  of  the 
relationship  existing  between  the  gods  and  man  was 
reached  in  a  remarkable  composition  that  has  come 
down  to  us  in  which  a  pious  sufferer  voices  his  despair 
at  not  being  able  to  please  the  gods  at  all  times.  The 
composition,  though  reverting  to  a  considerable  an- 
tiquity, illustrates  the  views  that  continued  to  sway 
the  popular  mind  to  the  latest  period;  and  since  the 
tale  also  shows  that  the  last  word  of  the  religion  was 
one  of  faith  in  ultimately  overcoming  the  anger  of 
the  gods,  it  is  worth  while  in  conclusion  to  give  some 
extracts  from  the  composition,  which  is  in  many  re- 
spects the  most  remarkable  that  has  come  down  to  us 
from  ancient  Babylonia.'' 

Like  Job,  in  the  poetic  symposium  which  forms  the 
first  stratum  of  the  book  of  Job,''  the  Babylonian  suf- 
ferer, whose  name  is  given  as  Tabi-utul-Enlil  and  who 
represents  himself  as  a  king,  complains  of  the  bitter 
fate  allotted  to  him  without  apparent  cause : 

"  As  though  I  had  not  always  set  aside  the  portion  for 

my  god, 
And  had  not  invoked  the  goddess  at  the  meal, 
As  though  I  had  not  bowed  my  face  and  brought  my 

tribute. 

Prayer  was  my  practice,  sacrifice  my  law. 

The  day  of   worship   of  the   god  was   the   joy   of 

my  heart, 
The  day  of  devotion  to  a  goddess  more  than  riches." 

"For  a  full  account  see  the  author's  article  A  Babylonian 
Parallel  to  the  Sf.ory  of  Job,  in  the  "  Journal  of  Biblical  Litera- 
ture," Vol.  25,  pp.  i3=;-ioi. 

''  See  the  author's  ^Book  of  Job,  Philadelphia,  1920,  p.  67  seq. 


118        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

He  indulges  in  reflection  on  the  difficulty  of  pleasing 
the  gods : 

"  What,  however,  seems  good  to  oneself,  to  a  god  is 

displeasing. 
What  is  spurned  by  oneself  finds  favour  with  a  god; 
Who  is  there  that  can  grasp  the  will  of  the  gods  in 

heaven  ? 
The  plan  of  a  god  full  of  mystei-y(?) — who   can 

understand  it? 
How  can  mortals  learn  the  way  of  a  god? 
He  who  is  still  alive  at  evening  is  dead  the  next 

morning ; 
In  an  instant  he  is  cast  into  grief,  of  a  sudden  he 

is  crushed; 
For  a  moment  he  sings  and  plays. 
In  a  twinkling  he  wails  like  a  mourner. 
Like   opening   and   closing,    their    [sc.   mankind's] 

spirit  changes; 
If  they  are  hungry,  they  are  like  a  corpse. 
Have  they  had  enough,   they  consider  themselves 

second  to  their  god; 
If  things  go  well,  they  prate  of  mounting  to  heaven, 
If  they  are  in   distress,  they   speak  of   descending 

into  Irkalla."  " 

His  appeals  to  the  various  classes  of  priests  are  of 
no  avail— none  was  able  to  furnish  relief.  He  stands 
on  the  brink  of  the  grave: 

"  The  grave  was  open,  my  burial  prepared, 
Though  not  yet  dead,  lamentation  was  made, 
The  people  of  my  land  said  '  Alas '  over  me." 

For  all  that,  like  Job  in  the  folk-tale,  Tabi-utul-Enlil 
retains  his  faith  and  is  finally  rewarded  by  complete 
restoration  to  health.  The  lesson  is  drawn  not  to  lose 
faith  in  Marduk. 

"Another  name  for  the  nether  world,  reverting  to  the  Sumerian 
Uru-gal  "  great  city."     See  above. 


THE  BABYLONIANS  AND  AS3YEIANS     119 

"  In  the  jaw  of  the  lion  about  to  conquer  hmi  Mar- 
duk  places  a  bit. 

Marduk  seized  the  one  ready  to  overwhelm  him 
and  completely  encircled  him." 

Psychologically,  then,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
the  gloomy  views  of  life  after  death  did  not  lead  to 
absolute  despair  when  faced  wdth  misfortune,  nor  to 
sullen  views  of  life  itself.  Both  Sumerians  and  Ak- 
kadians were  keenly  alive  to  the  joy  of  existence. 
Long  life  was  a  mark  of  favour  from  the  gods,  and 
grateful  hearts  sang  praises  to  the  superior  beings  who 
thus  permit  man  to  enjoy  the  sunlight.  The  Baby- 
lonians would  echo  the  sentiment  of  Koheleth,  himself 
without  a  hopeful  outlook  upon  death: 

"  Life  is  sweet, 
And  it  is  pleasant  for  the  eyes  to  see  the  sun." 

— Eccl.  II,  y. 

How  are  we  to  account  for  this?  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  answer  is  to  be  found  in  the  nature  of  man 
which  is  normally  optimistic.  Pessimism  is  an  ab- 
normal state,  at  least  so  far  as  the  large  masses  are 
concerned.  We  encounter  the  pessimist  in  the  blase 
individual  who  is  surfeited  with  pleasure,  in  the 
closet  philosopher  whose  thought  is  concentrated  on 
the  misery  that  he  sees  about  him,  in  the  disappointed 
and  embittered  soul — often  starting  out  in  life  as  an 
idealist;  but  the  very  need  of  husbanding  one's 
strength  for  the  struggle  of  life  prevents  the  average 
man  from  indulging  in  the  luxury  of  a  pessimistic  out- 
look either  on  life  or  on  death.  Such  an  outlook  would 
lame  his  efforts,  check  his  growth  effectively,  and  block 
the  endeavour  to  overcome  obstacles.  The  hope  that 
springs  eternal  in  the  human  breast  is  the  heritage  of 


120        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  average  man.  Lincoln  is  reported  to  have  said 
that  **  God  loves  the  common  people — for  He  made  so 
many  of  them."  The  Sumerians  and  Akkadians  were 
made  up,  as  we  are  to-day,  of  common  people. 

We  may,  therefore,  well  believe  that  despite  the 
persistence  of  gloomy  views  of  Arali  the  average  per- 
son gave  little  thought  to  death  and  concentrated  his 
efforts  on  the  work  and  need  that  lay  immediately  at 
hand.  He  looked  up  gratefully  to  his  gods  when  sun- 
shine played  around  his  existence,  and  he  prayed  to 
them  when  sickness  and  suffering  came, — -in  a  de- 
jected frame  of  mind,  to  be  sure,  but  also  in  the  hope 
that  the  anger  of  his  god  or  goddess — even  though  he 
was  often  forced  to  face  the  inability  of  knowing 
which  one  had  smitten  him — would  pass  away.  He 
was  content  when  the  end  drew  nigh  and  after  he  had 
enjoyed  life  to  the  full: 

"  To  fold  his  cloak  about  him, 
And  lie  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 


THE  ANCIENT  PERSIAN  DOCTRINE  OF 
A  FUTURE  LIFE ' 

A.  V.  Williams  Jackson 

AMONG  all  the  nations  of  mankind  that  have 
cherished  the  spark  of  religious  faith,  that 
ember  has  kindled  into  a  beacon  flame,  point- 
ing onward  to  a  world  beyond  the  present,  and  to  a 
life,  whatever  its  character,  existing  beyond  the  grave. 
The  rude  savage  bears  witness  to  this  truth,  as  well  as 
those  great  spirits  of  classical  antiquity,  Socrates, 
Plato,  Cato,  Cicero ;  the  ancient  Egyptians  and  Hindus, 
the  early  Celts,  Germans,  and  other  races  of  antiquity, 
bear  kindred  testimony,  as  well  as  those  who  have 
received  the  blessed  light  of  revelation.  But  among 
the  nations  of  the  distant  past,  outside  the  light  of 
Biblical  revelation,  this  feeling  seems  to  have  stirred 
in  the  hearts  of  none  more  strongly  than  it  stirred  in 
the  hearts  of  the  ancient  Persians,  those  natives  of  old 
Iran,  the  worshippers  of  Ormazd  and  followers  of 
Zoroaster,  the  prophet  who  spoke  at  least  six  centuries 
before  the  Saviour  came  preaching  the  truth.  The 
confident  belief  that  the  good  will  be  rewarded  after 

^  Cordial  acknowledgment  is  made  to  the  editorial  board  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  for  the  privilege  of  reproducing,  with 
additions  and  changes,  the  material  of  an  address  made  at  the 
opening  of  the  Haskell  Oriental  Museum  of  the  University  in 
1896;  see  The  Biblical  World,  8,  149-163,  Chicago,  1896.  Since 
then  has  appeared  the  volume  by  N.  Soderblom,  La  Vie  future 
d'apres  le  Mazdeisme,  Paris,  1901, 

121 


122        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

this  life  and  the  wicked  will  be  punished ;  that  right  will 
triumph  and  evil  will  be  destroyed ;  that  the  dead  shall 
arise  and  live  again ;  that  the  world'  shall  be  restored 
and  joy  and  happiness  shall  reign  supreme — this  is  a 
strain  that  runs  through  all  the  writings  of  Zoroastrian- 
ism  for  hundreds  of  years,  or  from  a  time  before  the 
Jews  were  carried  up  into  captivity  at  Babylon  until 
after  the  Koran  of  Mohammed  and  the  sword  of  the 
Arabs  had  changed  the  whole  religious  history  of  Iran. 
It  is  with  reference  to  this  doctrine  of  a  future  life 
for  the  immortal  soul,  and  in  respect  to  the  views 
relating  to  eschatology,  that  there  is  a  most  striking 
likeness  between  the  religion  of  ancient  Iran,  as  modi- 
fied by  Zoroaster,  and  the  teachings  of  Christianity. 
The  firm  belief  in  a  life  hereafter,  the  optimistic  hope 
of  a  regeneration  of  the  present  world  and  of  a  general 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  are  characteristic  articles  in 
the  faith  of  Persia  in  antiquity.  The  pious  expecta- 
tion of  a  new  order  of  things  is  the  chord  upon  which 
Zoroaster  rings  constant  changes  in  the  Gathas,  or 
Psalms.  A  mighty  crisis  is  impending;  every  man 
ought  to  choose  the  right  and  seek  for  the  Ideal  state ; 
mankind  shall  then  become  perfect  and  the  world 
renovated  {frashem  ahum,  frashotema,  frashokercti, 
etc.).^  This  will  be  the  establishment  of  the  power 
and  dominion  of  good  over  evil,  the  beginning  of  the 
true  rule  and  sovereignty,  "  the  good  kingdom,  the 
wished-for  kingdom "  (voJm  khshathra,  khshathra 
vairya).  It  Is  then  that  the  resurrection  of  the  dead 
will  take  place.  This  will  be  followed  by  a  general 
judgment,  accompanied  by  a  flood  of  molten  metal  in 


^Avesta,  Yasna,  30,  9;  34.  15;  55,  6;  Yasht,  19,  10.  11,  89;  Ys. 
46,  19;  50,  11;  Yt.  13,  58;  Vend.  18,  51;  Ys.  62,  3.  The  trans- 
literation of  Avcstan  and  other  technical  words  in  this  article  is 
more  popular  than  strictly  scientific. 


THE  AKCIEI^T  PEESIAN  DOCTEINE       123 

which  the  wicked  shall  be  punished,  the  righteous 
cleansed,  and  evil  banished  from  the  earth.  So  much 
by  way  of  introduction. 

Before  turning  to  the  sacred  books  of  Iran  itself,  it 
may  be  well  to  cite  the  testimony  of  early  Greek  writ- 
ers in  regard  to  the  Persian  faith  in  their  own  time. 
The  contemporaneous  statements  of  these  writers  prove 
the  existence  of  the  Iranian  belief  in  a  resurrection  of 
the  body,  a  restoration  of  the  world,  and  a  life  ever- 
lasting. It  was  this  doctrine  of  a  bodily  resurrection, 
quite  foreign  to  Greek  idea,  however  strong  might  be 
the  belief  in  immortality,  that  forms  a  cardinal  tenet 
in  the  Magian  faith.  Let  us  listen  for  a  moment  to 
what  Theopompus  (end  of  the  fourth  century  b.  c), 
as  quoted  by  Diogenes  Laertes  (Proem.,  p.  2),  can  tell 
us:  ''  In  the  eighth  book  of  the  Philippics,  Theopompus 
says  that,  according  to  the  Magi,  men  shall  come  to  life 
again  and  will  become  immortal,  and  all  things  will 
continue  to  exist  in  consequence  of  their  invocations." 
And  Diogenes  adds  that  Eudemus  of  Rhodes  gives  the 
same  testimony.  The  authority  of  Theopompus  is  cited 
again  by  ^Eneas  of  Gaza  (Dial. .  de  animi  immort., 
p.  77)  to  show  that  Zoroaster  had  already  preached 
the  resurrection  doctrine.  "Zoroaster,"  he  says, 
**  preaches  that  a  time  shall  come  when  there  will  be  a 
resurrection  (^vdirrafTc?)  of  all  the  dead."  The  great 
biographer,  Plutarch,  also  mentions  Theopompus  upon 
this  article  of  the  Magian  creed.  In  his  Isis  and  Osiris 
(ch.  47)  he  describes  a  coming  millennium  and  restora- 
tion of  the  world,  when  the  devil,  Ahriman,  shall  be 
destroyed,  and  evil  will  utterly  perish  from  the  world, 
the  rough  ways  be  made  smooth,  and  the  earth  will 
become  a  plain;  there  will  be  one  life  and  one  com- 
munity of  the  blessed,  and  one  universal  language  of 
all  mankind.     This  is  nothing  else  than  a  description 


124       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

of  the  new  dispensation  (vidditi,  division)  which 
Zoroaster  teaches  in  the  Gathas.  The  whole  passage 
is  exactly  in  the  spirit  of  the  Avesta,  and  is  precisely 
parallel  with  the  tone  of  the  famous  chapter  in  the 
Bundahishn,  which  is  quoted  below.  This  corrobora- 
tive evidence  deduced  from  Theopompus  takes  us  back 
four  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  In  a  passage 
in  Herodotus,  moreover,  we  can  perhaps  go  back  to 
the  fifth  century  for  an  allusion  to  the  Persian  doctrine 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  (c/.  Hdt.,  3,  62). 

Such  are  the  important  Greek  statements  that  may 
be  quoted  on  the  subject.  Turning  from  these  indirect 
sources  to  direct  Iranian  authority  we  have  the  testi- 
mony of  the  Avesta  and  of  the  traditional  literature  of 
the  Parsis  as  witness.  These  go  hand  in  hand  with 
the  classics  and  testify  to  the  antiquity  of  the  belief. 
The  Avesta,  or  sacred  book  of  the  Parsis,  holds  the 
same  position  in  Zoroastrianism  as  the  Holy  Scriptures 
in  Christianity;  it  is  supplemented  by  the  Pahlavi 
Books,  or  religious  writings  of  Sasanian  Persia,  which 
answer  in  part  to  the  writings  of  the  Church  Fathers. 
From  the  ancient  Persian  inscriptions  of  the  Achsemen- 
ian  kings  we  naturally  could  not  expect  to  receive  any 
specific  knowledge  on  this  subject,  as  the  formal  and 
official  character  of  these  edicts  would  preclude  it. 
The  Avesta  is  therefore  both  our  oldest  and  our  most 
immediate  source  of  information  on  the  topic.  Three 
of  its  books  or  divisions  are  of  special  import  in  the 
present  connection:  They  are,  first,  the  Yasna,  or  book 
of  the  ritual ;  second,  the  Yashts,  or  heroic  hymns  of 
religious  praise;  third,  the  Vendldad,  an  Iranian  Pen- 
tateuch. Among  the  Pahlavi  writings,  most  important 
are  the  Bundahishn,  a  sort  of  Iranian  Genesis  and 
Revelation,  based  upon  the  ancient  "  Damdat  Nask  "  of 
Zoroaster;  second,  the  theological  treatises,  Ddtistdn-i 


THE  ANCIENT  PEESIAN  DOCTEINE        125 

Denig,  "  religious  opinions ;  "  Denkart,  "  acts  of  the 
religion;''  Dnid-i  Manwg-i  Khirat,  ''opinions  of  the 
spirit  of  wisdom;"  and,  finally,  the  Artd-Viraf  Ndmak, 
a  Persian  apocalypse  or  Dantesque  vision  of  heaven 
and  of  hell,  seen  by  the  saint  Arta  Viraf. 

As  to  dates,  different  periods  of  composition  must  be 
recognized.  Some  portions  of  the  sacred  canon  of 
the  Avesta  are  older  than  others.  The  Gdthas,  or 
Psalms  of  Zoroaster,  inserted  in  the  midst  of  the  book 
of  the  Yasna,  are  the  oldest  portion.  They  are  the 
sayings,  metrical  sermons  or  Psalms,  of  the  Prophet 
himself,  and  in  point  of  time  they  undoubtedly  repre- 
sent a  period  that  is  not  later  than  the  seventh  or  the 
sixth  century  before  Christ.^  Other  parts  of  the 
Avesta,  like  certain  young  pieces  in  the  Vendidad  or 
formulaic  repetitions  in  the  Yasna  which  are  easily 
recognized  as  more  recent,  may  be  as  late  as  the 
Christian  era.  But  the  great  body  of  the  Avesta  is 
pre-Christian  in  material  and  in  composition,  if  not  in 
point  of  redaction.  Metrical  passages  as  a  rule  are 
antique.  The  time  of  the  Pahlavi  literature  covers  a 
period  between  the  fourth  and  the  ninth  centuries  of 
our  era;  this  does  not  preclude  the  antiquity  of  some 
of  the  matter,  much  of  which  is  based  upon  texts  that 
antedate  the  first  Christian  years  by  several  centuries. 
An  example  in  point  is  the  relation  of  the  Bundahishn 
to  the  Damdat  Nask  and  of  other  portions  of  the  litera- 
ture founded  upon  lost  original  Nasks. 

The  views  with  respect  to  a  future  life  are  not  com- 
plete in  the  Gathas  themselves,  owing  to  the  limited 
extent  of  this  psalter  portion  of  the  Avesta.      The 

'  I  must  here  observe  that  I  do  not  regard  the  views  of  the 
lamented  scholar,  Darmesteter,  as  expressed  in  Le  Zend-Avesta, 
Vol.  Ill,  Introduction,  respecting  the  late  origin  of  the  Gathas,  as 
tenable ;  nor  have  they  met  with  general  approval  or  acceptance 
among  Iranists. 


126       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

compass  of  these  versified  utterances,  dogmas  and 
preachings  of  the  Reformer,  is  less  in  extent  than  the 
direct  words  of  Christ,  but  their  spirit  pervades  the 
other  parts  of  the  Avesta  and  extends  to  the  Pahlavi 
writings,  as  our  Lord's  teachings  inspire  all  portions  of 
the  New  Testament  and  are  reflected  in  the  patristic 
literature. 

In  the  detailed  discussion  of  the  present  subject 
references  will  accordingly  be  generally  given  in  the 
following  order:  (1)  Gatha  Avesta,  (2)  Younger 
Avesta,  (o)  Pahlavi  and  other  sources.  But  in  the 
first  half  of  the  article  the  references  are  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  as  a  fuller  number  may  easily  be  collected 
by  any  attentive  reader  of  Zoroastrian  literature.  In 
the  treatment  of  the  topic,  two  divisions  may  logically 
be  made,  the  (1)  first  dealing  with  the  fate  of  the 
individual  soul  from  death  to  judgment,  the  (2)  second 
dealing  with  the  general  judgment,  eschatology  and 
the  end  of  the  world. 

As  the  fate  of  the  soul  from  death  to  judgment  is  a 
favourite  theme  to  dwell  upon,  dozens  of  references 
are  found  in  the  Avesta  and  Pahlavi  books  alluding  to 
the  journey  of  the  spirit  from  earth  to  the  world 
beyond  this  life.  A  perfect  picture  of  the  general 
belief  can  be  obtained  only  by  giving  many  quotations 
and  citations  from  the  texts,  but  there  is  not  space 
here.  We  must  content  ourselves  with  the  merest  out- 
line based  upon  an  exhaustive  collection  of  passages 
and  must  emphasize  only  the  most  important.  Several 
explicit  descriptions,  full  of  vivid  imaginings,  have 
been  preserved  as  to  how  the  spirit  of  the  righteous 
or  of  the  wicked,  as  the  case  may  be,  is  believed  to 
linger  about  the  body,  in  joy  or  in  pangs,  for  three 
days  and  three  nights  after  death.     At  the  dawn  of  the 


THE  AKOIEXT  PERSIAN  DOCTEINE        127 

fourth  day  the  soul  awakens  to  consciousness  of  the 
new  life  amid  a  breath  of  balmy  wind  fragrant  with 
scents  and  perfumes,  or  in  the  face  of  a  foul,  chill 
blast  heavy  with  sickening  stench.  According  to  a 
graphic  image,  the  Conscience,  or  Religion  personified, 
then  appears  before  the  dead,  either  in  the  form  of  a 
beautiful  maiden  or  in  the  shape  of  a  hideous  hag, 
being  the  reflection  of  his  own  soul,  and  this  image 
advances  with  him  to  the  destined  end.  In  some  in- 
stances two  dogs,  guarding  the  soul  from  demons,  ac- 
company the  figure  of  the  maid.  This  latter  seems 
to  be  a  refracimento  of  an  old  Aryan  belief.  The  soul 
now  stands  at  the  individual  judgment  in  the  presence 
of  three  angels,  Mithra,  Sraosha  and  Rashnu,  the 
assessors  before  whom  the  life  account  is  rendered,  and 
the  good  and  bad  deeds  are  weighed  in  the  balance. 
According  to  the  turn  of  these  scales,  which  are  coun- 
terpoised with  perfect  justice,  the  final  decision  is 
made." 

Next  comes  the  crossing  of  the  Chinvat  Bridge  of 
judgment,  which  (apparently  conceived  of  as  being 
somewhere  in  Media)  stretches  over  Hell  between  the 
divine  Mount  Alborz  and  the   Peak   of  Judgment.** 

*  Among  a  number  of  illustrative  passages  that  may  be  cited 
are:  (Soul  after  death)  Avesta,  Yt.  22,  1-42  (=:r:Hatokht  Nask 
2)  ;  Yt.  24,  53-67 ;  Vd.  19,  26-34 ;  Pahlavi,  Dat.  i  Den.  20,  1-4 ; 
Mkh.  2,  1 14-194;  AV.  17,  1-27. —  (Accounting,  and  the  store  of 
works),  Avesta,  Ys.  31,  14;  32,  7;  Yt.  i,  8;  Vd.  19,  27;  Ys.  55,  8; 
Afr.  I,  7;  Yt.  10,  32;  19,  33;  Vsp.  15,  i;  Pahlavi,  Mkh.  2,  96-97; 
Dat.  i  Den.  31,  1-25;  32,  1-16. —  (Weighing  before  judges)  cf. 
Avesta,  Ys.  33,  i;  especially  Ys.  57,,  2;  Vd.  7,  52;  Vd.  19,  28; 
compare  also  Av.  heiikeretd,  "reckoning,  balance,"  in  Ys.  31,  14; 
Pahlavi,  Mkh.  2,  115;  Art.  Vf.  5,  5;  Dat  i  Den.  24,  6;  and 
(among  other  passages)  Iran.  Bund.  ch.  34,  1-3  (cf.  J.  J.  Modi, 
Bombay  Roy.  As.  Soc,  Aug.  1901,  pp.  1-17). 

''For  example:  (Chinvat  Bridge)  Avesta,  Ys.  46,  lo-ii;  51, 
13;  Ys.  19,  6;  Yt.  24,  42;  Sir.  2,  30;  Vd.  13,  3;  18,  6;  19,  27; 
Pahlavi,  Bd.  12,  7  (and  references  in  numerous  other  Phi. 
works). 


128       BELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

This  bridge  plays  an  important  role  throughout  all  ages 
of  Zoroastrianism.  Across  it  the  righteous  and  the 
wicked  alike  must  pass;  the  one  to  felicity,  the  other 
to  damnation ;  the  former  with  the  assistance  of  minis- 
tering angels,  or  guided  by  the  conscience-maiden  as 
some  accounts  describe;  the  latter  amid  the  howls  of 
demons  and  tormenting  fiends,  or  led  by  the  horrid  hag. 
The  difficulties  of  the  passage  over  this  terrible  bridge 
of  death  are  often  enough  alluded  to  and  dilated  upon, 
from  the  Gathas  down  to  the  latest  Persian  religious 
writings.'  The  orthodox  doctrine  teaches  that  this 
bridge  becomes  broad  or  narrow  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  soul  upon  it ;  and  in  some  late  accounts ' 
the  bridge  is  described  under  the  guise  of  a  beam  that 
turns  various  sides  according  to  the  doom  of  the  spirit 
which  crosses  it,  presenting  now  to  the  righteous  a 
pathway  "  nine  javelins  "  or  a  "  league  "  in  breadth, 
or  again  presenting  to  the  wicked  an  edge  like  "  the 
thinness  of  the  edge  of  a  razor,"  so  that  the  lost  soul 
falls  off  when  half-way  across,  into  the  depths  of 
Hell. 

As  the  spirit-journey  is  further  pursued,  the  man- 
sions of  the  paradise  of  Good  Thoughts,  Good  Words, 
Good  Deeds,  in  the  regions  respectively  of  the  stars, 
the  moon,  and  the  sun,  are  described."  The  description 
is  only  less  brilliant  in  its  colouring  than  the  entry  into 
the  place  of  ''  Eternal  Light,"  the  blissful  Garonmana 
or  ''  house  of  song,"  "  the  abode  of  Good  Thought " 
(the  archangel),  that  "good  dwelling  of  Good 
Thought,    Ahura,    and    Righteousness,"    "the    Best 

*For  example:  (Passaj^e  over  Chinvat  Bridge)  Avesta,  Ys. 
46,  10;  19,  6;  51,  12;  Vd.  13,  3;  Ys.  31,  20;  Vd.  19,  .30;  19,  27;  13, 
8-9;  Pahlavi,  Dat.  i  Den.  i,  1-7;  and  elsewhere  in  Phi.  literature. 

'Cf.  Dat.  i  Den.  21,  2-8;  Mkh.  2,  123,  Art.  Vf.  5,  i. 

» Avesta,  Yt.  22,  15-18;  Pahlavi,  Mkh.  7,  1-12;  Art.  V£.  ch. 
7-1 1. 


THE  ANCIENT  PEESIAN  DOCTEINE       129 

World,"  the  heaven  ''  where  Ormazd  dwells  in  joy." ' 
But  offsetting  this,  is  the  painful  descent  through  the 
grades  of  Evil  Thought,  Evil  Words,  Evil  Deeds,  to 
the  hell  of  darkness  that  can  be  seized  by  the  hand,  a 
place  so  foul,  so  gloomy  and  so  lonesome  that  although 
the  suffering  souls  be  as  many  and  as  close  together 
"  as  the  hairs  on  the  mane  of  a  horse,"  still  each  one 
thinks  he  is  alone  (AV.  54,  5-8;  Bd.  18,  47);  this 
scene  of  frightful  torment  is  *'  the  house  of  False- 
hood," ''  the  home  of  Worst  Thought,"  ''  the  Worst 
Life."  " 

With  perfect  logic,  moreover,  the  religion  taught  the 
existence  of  a  third  place  suited  to  the  special  cases  in 
which  the  good  and  the  bad  deeds  exactly  counter- 
balanced. This  is  the  Hamistakan,  "  the  commingled, 
or  equilibrium,"  an  intermediate  place  between  earth 
and  the  star-region,  somewhat  resembling  a  purgatory 
in  which  the  soul  is  destined  to  suffer  no  other  torment 
than  the  changes  of  heat  and  cold  of  the  seasons,  and 
must  there  abide  awaiting  the  general  resurrection  and 
final  judgment  day.  This  doctrine  is  as  old  as 
Zoroaster  in  the  Gathas  and  it  continues  throughout  the 
history  of  the  religion." 

All  these  ideas,  so  cursorily  touched  upon  here,  are 
clearly  to  be  recognized  in  the  Zoroastrian  books  and 
they  each  have  their  prototypes  in  the  Gathas.  But 
passing  over  these  with  this  sketch  so  hasty  that  full 

^Avesta,  Ys.  28,  6-7;  43,  5;  and  especially  Ys.  46,  15-17;  45,  8; 
50,  4;  51,  15;  30,  10;  and  Ys.  16,  7;  Pahlavi,  Mkh.  7,  13;  2,  157; 
bat.  i  Den.  26,  2-4. 

'"See  particularly  Avest'a,  Ys.  31,  20;  49,  n;  Yt.  22,  33-30;  of. 
Vd.  4,  50-54;  and  Pahlavi,  Mkh.  7,  19-30. 

'*See  Ys.  33,  I  and  compare  the  Pahlavi  version  of  Vd.  7,  52; 
likewise  Avestan  misvana  gaUi,  Sir.  i,  30;  2,  30;  Vd.  19,  36;  and 
Phi.  version  of  Yt.  i,  i;  furthermore,  Pahlavi,  Art.  Vf.  6,  I-12; 
Mkh.  7,  18;  and  often  elsewhere  in  later  Zoroastrian  literature. 
Observe,  in  connection  with  the  whole  subject,  Herodotus  i,  137- 


130        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

references  cannot  be  presented,  attention  may  be 
given  with  more  detail  to  the  second  half  of  the  subject, 
the  ancient  Persian  doctrine  of  eschatology,  a  mil- 
lennium, a  resurrection,  the  coming  of  a  Saoshyant  or 
Saviour,  the  punishment  of  the  wicked  in  a  flood  of 
molten  metal,  and  the  establishment  of  a  kingdom  or 
sovereignty  of  good  which  is  to  be  the  regeneration  of 
the  world. 

Notice  has  already  been  taken  of  the  oft-recurring 
expression  of  pious  hope  in  the  Gathas  of  Zoroaster 
for  the  coming  of  a  new  order  of  things  at  the  great 
crisis  or  final  change  of  the  world/'  This  final  change, 
when  there  will  be  a  decisive  division  and  separation  of 
the  evil  and  the  good  forever,"  is  to  be  the  beginning 
of  the  wished-for  kingdom  or  good  sovereignty,"  and 
of  a  regeneration  of  the  world/'  This  is  the  frasho- 
kereti,  as  it  is  elsewhere  .called  in  the  Avesta,''  the 
frashakart,  as  it  repeatedly  appears  in  Pahlavi,  in  other 
words  "the  renovation,  perfection,  preparation  for 
eternity,"  accompanied  by  the  purifying  ordeal  of 
molten  metal." 

This  Gatha  doctrine  of  a  renovation,  frashem  ahum 
the  renewed  world,  as  found  likewise  in  the  Avestan 
frashokereti  and  Pahlavi  frashakart,  is  a  distinctly 
millennial  doctrine  and  Is  closely  associated  with  the 
general  belief  In  the  appearance  of  a  Saviour  and  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.  The  doctrine  of  the  thou- 
sand years — a  belief  parallel  in  a  measure  with  Ideas 

"Cf.  Ys.  30,  2  ma::e  ydonho,  Ys.  51,  6,  apeme  anheush  nrvaese 
Ys.  43,  5,  dCimdish  urvacse  apeme. 

"Cf.  Ys.  31,  19;  47,  6;  and  Ys.  46,  12. 

"  Cf.  Av.  khshaihra  "  kingdom,"  passim. 

"Cf.  Ys.  30,  9,  ferashem  kerenaun  ahum;  Ys.  46,  19;  50,  H, 
frashdte?na,  and  Yl.  19,  11,  89-96. 

"  See  Ys.  62,  3;  Vd.  18,  31 ;  Yt.  13,  58. 

"  Cf.  Ys.  51,  9;  Vp.  20,  I ;  Yt.  17,  20;  Bd.  30,  20,  et  al. 


THE  ANCIENT  PEESIAN  DOCTEINE       131 

found  in  the  Book  of  Revelation— is  unquestionably  an 
old  article  in  the  Zoroastrian  creed,  although  it  first 
appears  elaborated  in  the  Pahlavi  writings/'  It  is 
fully  recognized  as  Magian  as  early  as  the  fourth  cen- 
tury before  Christ,  by  Theopompus,''  and  his  state- 
ments are  in  exact  agreement  with  the  traditional 
literature  of  the  Parsis.  According  to  this  literature, 
a  period  of  13,000  years  is  the  length  of  the  world's 
duration,  and  in  the  last  oOOO  years  of  this  aeon  occur 
the  millenniums  of  Aushetar  and  Aushetar-mah/" 
These  names  are  found  in  the  Avesta  (Yt.  13,  128)  as 
Ukhshyat-ereta ;  Ukhshyat-nemah,  sons  miraculously 
born,  at  the  end  of  time,  of  the  seed  of  Zoroaster,  the 
heralds  and  forerunners  of  the  Saoshyant  Saviour. 

The  development  of  the  Persian  idea  of  a  Saviour  is 
an  interesting  one  to  trace.  The  term  Av.  saoshyant. 
Phi.  soshans  occurs  throughout  the  entire  literature, 
Gathas,  Younger  Avesta,  Pahlavi,  but  it  seems  to 
have  different  shadings  of  meaning  according  to  the 
circumstances  under  which  it  is  employed,  and  it  shows 
perhaps  a  growth.  In  form  the  word  is  a  future  active 
participle  from  the  root  sil  "  to  swell,  increase,  benefit, 
save" — a  word  connoting  the  highest  degree  of 
sanctity.  The  term  saoshyant  is  employed  to  denote 
(1)  priest,  apostle,  saint  of  the  faith,"  and  is  so  used 
both  in  Gatha  and  in  Younger  Avestan,  being  found 
oftenest  in  the  plural;  second  (2)  it  marks  especially 

"See  in  Pahlavi,  Bd.  30,  2  (in  which  connection  it  is  to  be 
recalled  that  the  Bundahishn  is  based  upon  the  original  Damdat 
Nask),  and  consult  Bd.  34,  i  seq.;  Zsp.  i,  10;  Byt.  i,  5;  2,  22; 
3,  9;  Dt.  Den.  37,  11,  33;  64,  4;  66,  10;  90,  7;  Dk.  6,  etc.,  8,  14, 
10-14. 

'^  Quoted  by  Plutarch,  Is.  and  Os.  47- 

=" Pahlavi  Bd.  30,  2,  3;  32,  8;  34,  2,  etc.;  Dk.  8,  14,  lO-lS; 
9,  41,  4-8. 

='Cf.  Ys.  48,  9;  Yt.  II,  17,  22',  Vp.  II,  13,  20;  Vp.  5,  i;  Ys, 
14,  I ;  70,  4,  and  consult  Darmesteter  Le  Zend-Avesta,  1,  p.  85. 


132       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

those  holy  men  who  have  Hved  or  who  will  be  bom, 
who  are  to  appear  in  a  goodly  company  at  the  millen- 
nium and  lend  their  aid  in  renovating  the  world ;  third 
(3)  it  designates  in  particular  the  Saoshyant  supreme, 
their  leader,  the  last  of  the  three  miraculously  born 
posthumous  sons  of  Zoroaster,  the  great  apostle  who 
will  preside  at  the  general  resurrection. 

A  question  may  arise  as  to  whether  the  Saviour-idea 
in  Mazdaism  was  a  tenet  that  was  taught  by  Zoroaster 
himself,  or  whether  it  may  not  possibly  be  due  to  some 
influence  of  the  Messianic  idea  in  Judaism.  The  an- 
swer is  not  at  once  to  be  given.  The  Apocryphal  New 
Testament  of  the  Bible,  Infancy  iii.,  1-10,  expressly 
states  that  the  Magi  who  came  to  worship  before  the 
new-born  Saviour,  came  in  accordance  with  a  prophecy 
uttered  long  before  by  Zoroaster.  A  similar  assertion 
is  made  in  a  Syriac  MS.  commentary  on  Matt.  3:  1,  by 
'Ishodad  of  Hadatha  in  the  ninth  century  of  our  era. 
An  old  metrical  fragment  of  the  Avesta  (Frag.  4,  1-4), 
an  extract  from  Yasht  13,  89  seq.,  and  the  well-known 
passage  in  the  Bundahishn  believed  to  be  founded  on 
the  Damdat  Nask  (Bd.  30,  1  seq.),  all  lend  their  weight 
in  ascribing  this  particular  teaching  to  Zoroaster  him- 
self. The  whole  system  of  the  faith  appears  to  be 
buih  upon  this  tenet.  To  cite  from  the  Gathas,  it 
certainly  seems  in  one  passage,  Ys.  46,  3,  as  if  the  use 
of  saoshyantdni,  in  the  special  connection  in  which  it  is 
used  by  Zoroaster,  did  imply  the  existence  and  recogni- 
tion of  the  belief  in  the  Saoshyant  and  his  company  of 
apostles.''  See  also  Ys.  9,  1-2.  In  Ys.  48,  9  saoshyds 
may  possibly  be  employed  by  Zoroaster  with  a  feeling 
that  he  himself  was  the  grand  apostle  of  Ahura  Mazda. 
The  distinction  between  the  use  of  the  word  in  the 

^'And  that  too,  in  spite  of  such  passages  as  Ys.  14,  i;  Yt.  il, 
17,  22. 


THE  ANCIENT  PEESIAN  DOCTEINE       133 

singular  and  in  the  plural  should  in  any  case  be  marked. 
At  all  events,  there  can  be  no  doubt  on  one  point,  the 
Saoshyant  doctrine  in  Zoroastrianism  is  pre-Christian 
as  is  shown  by  its  occurrence  in  metrical  composi- 
tions.'' 

The  great  Saoshyant  (Saviour)  w^ho  is  to  appear  at 
the  end  of  time  is  the  son  of  the  maid  Eredat-fedhri 
Vispa-taurvairi  ''  the  all-conquering."  ''  It  is  believed 
that  he  will  be  conceived  in  a  supernatural  manner  by 
a  virgin  bathing  in  the  waters  of  Lake  Kansavaya."^ 
In  an  Avestan  prose  passage  (Yt.  13,  129)  his  name 
is  called  the  Victorious  (verethrajan) ,  Righteousness 
Incarnate  (astvat-ereta) ,  and  the  Benefactor  or  Sav- 
iour (saoshyant).  The  Avestan  text  itself  etymol- 
ogizes the  titles  and  shows  the  connection  with  the 
resurrection  (Yt.  13,  128-129  in  prose) : 

"We  worship  the  guardian  spirit  (fravashi)  of  the 
righteous  Astvat-ereta  who  shall  be  the  Victorious  Saosh- 
yant (Benefactor,  Saviour)  by  name,  Astvat-ereta  (In- 
carnate Righteousness)  by  name.  He  shall  be  called 
'Benefactor,  Saviour'  (sao-sh-yant)  because  he  will 
'  benefit,  save '  (sav-a-yat)  all  the  incarnate  world.  He 
shall  be  called  *  Incarnate  Righteousness '  {astvat-ereta) 
because  being  '  incarnate,'  endowed  with  vital  power,  he 
will  acquire  incarnate  incorruptibility  for  withstanding 
the  Fiend  (Druj)  with  her  two-footed  brood,  and  for 
withstanding  the  malice  done  by  the  righteous." 

In  the  old  metrical  stanzas  of  the  Zamyat  Yasht 
(Yt.  19,  89  seq.)  the  idea  is  even  more  elaborately 
developed  in  verse.  A  rendering  of  the  passage  is  here 
attempted  so  as  to  convey  a  more  exact  impression  than 
a  mere  description  can  do. 

"^Cf.  Yt.  ig,  92;  Frag.  4,  i-4;  Ys.  9,  1-2. 
^*Yt.  13,  142;  19,  92;  Cf.  Dk.  7,  et  al. 
^  Yt.  13,  62 ;  19,  66,  92 ;  Vd.  19,  5,  et  al 


134       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

"We  worship  the  mighty  Kingly  Glory  which  shall 
attend  upon 

89.  "  The  Victorious  One  of  the  Saoshyants, 

And  attend  his  other  comrades, 

When  He  makes  the  world  perfected 

Ever  ageless  and  undying, 

Undecaying,  ne'er  corrupting. 

Ever  living,  e'er  increasing,  ruling  at  will, 

When  the  dead  again  shall  rise  up, 

When  immortality  comes  alive. 

And,  as  wished,  the  world  made  perfect. 

90.  "  Then  the  beings  become  undying. 

Who  uphold  the  laws  of  Righteousness ; 

And  away  shall  the  Druj  (Fiend)  vanish 

Thither  whence  she  came  destroying 

The  righteous  man,  both  seed  and  life. 

She  the  Deadly  Fiend  shall  perish 

And  the  Deadly  Lord  (Ahriman)  shall  vanish. 

92.  "  When  arise  shall  Astvat-ereta 
From  the  waters  of  Kansavya, 
Envoy  of  Ahura  Mazda, 
Offspring  of  Vispa-taurvairi, 
Flourishing  a  brand  triumphant.     .     *    • 

94.  "  He  shall  look  with  eye  of  Wisdom, 

Beaming  look  upon  all  creatures. 
Those  of  evil  brood  excepted. 
He  on  all  the  world  incarnate 
Beaming  looks  with  eye  of  Plenty, 
And  his  glance  shall  make  immortal 
Each  incarnate  living  creature. 

95.  "  Then,  behold,  advance  the  comrades 

Of  Victorious  Astvat-ereta, 
Thinking  good  and  but  good  speaking. 
Doing  good,  of  good  Religion, 
Nor,  indeed,  have  tongues  like  theirs 
Ever  uttered  word  of  falsehood. 


THE  ANCIENT  PEESIAN  DOCTEINE       135 

"  From  them  flees  the  Demon  Aeshma, 
Bloody-speared  and  of  foul  Glory, 
Righteousness  smites  evil  Falsehood/' 
Fiend  of  sinful  race  and  darkness; 

96.  "  Evil  Thought  verily  smiteth, 

But  Good  Thought  in  turn  shall  smite  this; 
Though  the  Word  False-Spoken  smiteth, 
Yet  the  Word  of  Truth  shall  smite  it. 
Saving-Health  and  Life  Immortal 
Hunger  and  Thirst  shall  smite  completely; 
Saving-Health  and  Life  Immortal 
Smite  down  sinful  Thirst  and  Hunger. 
Forth  shall  flee  that  evil-worker, 
Anra  Mainyu,  reft  of  power." 

To  these  unequivocal  resurrection  passages  in  the 
Avesta,  there  is  to  be  added  a  remarkable  fragment, 
Fr.  4,  1-3  (Westergard)  which  has  been  preserved 
from  the  missing  Varshtmansar  Nask  {cf.  Denkart,  9, 
46,  1).  The  piece  is  in  praise  of  the  Airyama  Ishya 
Prayer  (Ys.,  54,  1),  is  rhythmical,  and  is  undoubtedly 
old.  The  words  of  the  Airyama  Prayer  shall  be  in- 
toned by  the  Saoshyant  and  his  glorious  attendants,  at 
the  great  day  of  judgment,  as  a  sort  of  last  trump 
whose  notes  shall  raise  the  dead  again  to  life;  shall 
banish  the  devil,  Ahriman,  from  the  earth,  and  shall 
restore  the  world.  This  is  in  harmony  with  the  pre- 
ceding extract  and  recalls  the  words  of  Theopompus, 
found  in  Plutarch  and  his  phrase  quoted  by  Diogenes 
Laertes  regarding  the  continuance  of  the  new  order 
of  things."  The  verses  run  thus  in  the  words  of 
Ormazd  to  Zoroaster  (Fr.  4,  1-3) : 

^^  Battle  of  the  Archangels  and  Arch-Fiends.  _  See  also  Biin- 
dahishn  30,  29  below.  Observe  the  personifications  throughout, 
as  elsewhere  in  sacred  literature. 

"  Diog.  lyaert.  Proem.,  6,  /zai  rd  ovra  rai<i  auriLv  krcikk'^aeffi 
diafiivetv. 


136        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

1  The  Airyama  Ishya  Prayer,  I  tell  thee. 
Truly,  holy  Zoroaster, 

Is  the  greatest  of  all  prayers. 
Verily  among  all  prayers 
It  is  this  one  that  I  gifted 
With  revivifying  power. 

2  This  prayer  shall  the  Saoshyants,  Saviours, 
Chant ;  and  by  the  chanting  of  it 

I  shall  rule  over  my  creatures, 
I  who  am  Ahura  Mazda; 
Nor  shall  Ahriman  have  power, 
Anra  Mainyu  o'er  my  creatures. 
He  (the  fiend)  of  foul  religion. 

3  In  the  earth  shall  Ahriman  hide, 
In  the  earth,  the  demons  hide. 
Up  the  dead  again  shall  rise, 
And  within  their  lifeless  bodies 
Incorporate  life  shall  be  restored. 

This  plainly  speaks  of  a  bodily  resurrection  even 
though  the  bodies  be  such  as  Theopompus  (Plutarch) 
says  "  cast  no  shadow." 

It  might  be  asserted  that  in  the  Gathas  themselves 
there  is  no  direct  allusion  to  Zoroaster's  personally  hav- 
ing taught  a  belief  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body. 
That  he  did  teach  the  doctrine,  however,  there  is  little 
doubt,  as  may  be  affirmed  also  on  the  Greek  authority 
of  Theopompus  in  the  fourth  century  B.  c.  The 
metrical  fragment  just  translated  from  the  Avesta 
attributes  the  tenet  to  him;"'  and  all  the  passages  in 
the  Pahlavi  books  which  are  based  on  Avestan  au- 
thority, bear  substantial  testimony  to  the  same.'"  Every- 

'*Ys.  30,  7,  kehrpem  seems  to  contain  a  covert  allusion  l)y 
Zoroaster  to  the  resurrection. 

'-^Cf.  Bel.  30,  4,  SLS.  17,  11-14.  So  also  in  the  original 
Varshtmansar  and  Damdat  Nasks  of  the  Avesta,  as  stated  in  Dk. 
9,  33.1  and  in  the  Persian  Rivayats  2,  5,  translated  by  West 
S.  B.  E.  xxxvii,  14  n.  i,  421. 


THE  ANCIEI^T  PERSIAl^  DOCTRIlSrE        137 

where  in  the  Gathas  the  principal  theme  is  the  end  of 
the  world,  the  life  hereafter,  the  great  crisis  and  catas- 
trophe, and  the  ordeal  of  the  molten  metal,  when  the 
power  of  evil  shall  finally  be  destroyed/"  These  awful 
events  are  the  ones  which  are  regularly  associated  with 
the  resurrection  in  the  later  literature ;  they  are  doubt- 
less so  in  the  Gathas.  The  occurrence  of  the  mighty 
catastrophe  juase  ydonho  in  the  Gathas  is  explained  in 
the  Pahlavi  gloss  to  the  passage  as  taking  place  "  at  the 
resurrection"  (tanii-i  pasin).  This  expression  tanu-i 
pasin,  "  the  future  body,"  and  also  rist-akhezh,  "  rais- 
ing of  the  dead,"  is  common  enough  in  Pahlavi  com- 
ments on  ancient  Avestan  passages  and  in  other  works."^ 

Fortunately  there  survives  in  the  Bundahishn,  drawn 
doubtless  from  the  Damdat  Nask  of  the  original 
Avesta,"'  a  most  interesting  description  of  the  last  days 
of  the  world,  the  millennium,  the  coming  of  the 
Saoshyant,  the  resurrection  and  general  judgment,  and 
the  annihilation  of  evil  and  the  reign  of  good.  No 
more  complete  account  could  be  given,  embracing  the 
whole  Zoroastrian  view  on  the  subject,  than  is  found 
in  this  chapter  (Bd.  30,  1-33).  It  is  in  harmony  like- 
wise with  the  Pahlavi  Bahman  Yasht  (Byt.  3,  43-63) 
and  with  the  seventh  book  of  the  Denkart.^'  The 
Bundahishn  chapter  is  here  given  in  outline,  renderings 
from  West's  translation  being  sometimes  adopted 
verbatim.''* 

At  the  close  of  the  last  millennium  of  the  world,  men 
will  live  simply  upon  vegetable  food,  milk,  and  water, 

'"Ys.  30,  8,  c£.  Ys.  36,  2;  35,  5;  see  Ys.  51,  9;  2>2,  7;  30,  9-10; 
Yt.  17,  20;  Vp.  20,  I. 

"'  Cf .  Mkh.  2,  95,  193 ;  27,  36,  53,  et  al. 

'■  Cf.  West  Pahlavi  Texts  in  S-.  B.  E.  xxxvii,  p.  14  n,  421. 

"'  Cf .  West  in  S.  B.  E.  v.  120-130,  230-235,  and  in  Geiger  and 
Kuhn's  Grundriss,  ii,  96,  97. 

^*Cf.  West,  Pahlavi  Texts  (Bundahishn)  in  S.  B.  E.  v,  120- 
130. 


138       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

and  ten  years  before  the  Soshans  (Saviour)  comes, 
they  will  desist  altogether  from  eating.  At  his  ap- 
pearance the  dead  will  arise,  each  from  the  spot  where 
life  departed.''  ''  First  the  bones  of  Gayomart  (man 
primeval)  are  roused  up,  then  those  of  Mashya  and 
Mashyoi  (the  Iranian  Adam  and  Eve),  then  the  rest  of 
mankind." ''  They  all  assume  their  own  bodies  and 
forms  and  each  will  recognize  his  family,  his  relatives, 
and  his  friends.  The  preparation  of  the  dead  by 
Soshans  and  his  company  of  attendants,  fifteen  men 
and  fifteen  damsels,  will  take  fifty-seven  years  to  ac- 
complish."' The  resurrection  finished,  a  great  assem- 
bly of  the  risen  dead  now  takes  place.  "  In  that  as- 
sembly every  one  sees  his  own  good  deeds  and  his  own 
evil  deeds ;  and  then,  in  that  assembly,  a  wicked  man 
becomes  as  conspicuous  as  a  white  sheep  among  those 
which  are  black." ''  Then  follows  the  separation  of 
the  unrighteous  from  the  just;  the  wicked  are  cast 
back  into  hell  for  three  days  of  awful  torment,  while 
the  righteous  taste  of  the  joys  of  heaven."" 

A  star  now  falls  from  heaven;  the  metal  in  the 
mountains  and  hills  melts  with  fervent  heat,  and  flows 
upon  the  earth  like  a  river.  *'  Then  all  men  will  pass 
into  that  melted  metal  and  will  become  pure.  When 
one  is  righteous,  it  seems  to  him  just  as  though  he 
walks  continually  in  warm  milk ;  but  when  wicked,  then 
it  seems  to  him  in  such  manner  as  though  in  the  world, 
he  walks  continually  in  melted  metal."  '"  Cleansed  and 
purified  by  this  fiery  ordeal,  all  meet  once  more  together 
and  receive  the  reward  of  heaven.  An  ambrosial  draft 
of  the  white  horn  juice,  prepared  by  Soshans,  makes 
"  all  men  immortal  for  ever  and  everlasting ; "  those 

«»Sec  SLS.  17,  12,  Bd.  30,  7-  ''Bd.  30,  7- 

''Bd.  30,  7,  17;  Dk.  7th  book  (West). 

^Bd.  30,  10,  transl.  West.       »"Bd.  30,  12-13.        ""Bd.  30,  20. 


THE  ANCIENT  PEESIAN  DOCTRINE        139 

who  died  as  adults  are  restored  at  the  age  of  forty 
years,  those  who  were  taken  when  children,  will  be 
restored  as  if  fifteen  years  old;  husband  and  wife  to- 
gether attain  heaven,  but  there  shall  be  no  more  be- 
getting of  children." 

The  powers  of  evil,  however,  shall  gather  once  more 
their  forces  for  a  final  conflict  with  the  kingdom  of 
good.  A  mighty  battle  of  the  spirits  ensues/'  Each 
archangel  seizes  upon  the  arch-fiend  that  is  his  special 
adversary.  The  battle  described  in  the  metrical 
Avestan  fragment  translated  above  should  be  com- 
pared. Evil  is  finally  routed.  The  devil  Ahriman 
and  the  demon  Az  discomfited  flee  away  to  darkness 
and  gloom.  The  serpent  is  burned  in  the  molten 
metal,  hell  is  purified,  Ormazd  "  brings  the  land  of  hell 
back  for  the  enlargement  of  the  world ;  the  renovation 
arises  in  the  world  by  his  will,  and  the  world  is  im- 
mortal for  ever  and  everlasting.''  "  The  heavenly  vs^ork 
completed,  "  all  men  become  of  one  voice  and  admin- 
ister praise  to  Auharmazd  and  the  archangels  "  '' — ^to 
him,  "  the  merciful  Lord,  who  makes  the  final  retribu- 
tion, and  who  will  at  the  end  deliver  the  wicked  from 
hell  and  restore  the  whole  creation  in  purity."  *'  The 
lines  of  Marlow's  Faustus  involuntarily  rise  to  one's 
lips: 

"  When  all  the  world  dissolves, 
And  every  creature  shall  be  purified 
All  places  shall  be  hell  that  are  not  heaven." 

Such  is  the  ancient  Persian  doctrine  of  a  future  life, 
so  far  as  this  brief  sketch  can  depict  a  notion  of  it.  As 
we  review  it  we  must  indeed  look  with  e3^e  of  admira- 
tion at  the  flashes  of  truth  that  shed  rays  of  light  into 

"Bd.  30,  25-27.  *^Bd.  30,  29.  «Bd.  30,  Z2. 

"Bd.  30,  23.  '"Denkart,  2,  81.6,  Casartelli. 


140        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

the  souls  of  those  faithful  worshipers  of  old.  And 
knowing,  as  we  do,  ''  that  our  Redeemer  liveth,  and 
that  he  shall  stand  at  the  latter  day  upon  this  earth," 
we  ought  with  all  reverence  feel  that  God  in  His  divine 
goodness  has  left  no  time  and  no  race  without  the 
kindness  of  His  illumining  grace  in  some  way  or  other ; 
and  perhaps  properly  we  may  count  Zoroaster,  the 
sage  sprung  of  Persian  stock  and  religious  teacher  of 
ancient  Iran,  as  one  among  those  "prophets  which  have 
been  since  the  world  began." 


VI 

IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  HEBREW  RELIGION 
Lewis  Bayles  Paton 

L     The  Primitive  Period 

1.  Continued  existence  of  the  soul  after  death. — 
The  conceptions  of  the  soul  held  by  the  early 
Hebrews  were  identical  with  those  of  the  Semites 
and  of  other  ancient  races  throughout  the  world. 
They  distinguished  between  the  hasar,  "  flesh,"  and 
the  nephesh,  "  breath,"  or  rimh,  "  wind,  spirit " ;  and 
they  believed  that  the  spirit  persisted  after  death.  Dis- 
embodied spirits  retained  the  intellectual,  emotional, 
and  volitional  powers  that  they  had  possessed  in  life.' 
They  also  gained  new  and  superhuman  powers.  They 
could  occupy  stones  or  images,  thus  creating  fetishes 
or  talismans;'  they  could  obsess  men,  causing  disease 
or  insanity ;'  they  could  possess  men,  inducing  second- 
sight,  mind-reading,  and  prevision  of  the  future;* 
they  could  appear  as  ghosts,  announcing  impending 
disaster.'     On  the  other  hand,  they  lost  their  physical 

*Gen.  4:10;  I  Sam.  28:16-19;  Isa.  14:9^.;  Jer.  3i:i5;  Ezek. 
32:31;  Job  24:12.  For  fuller  discussion  of  this  subject  see 
L.  B.  Paton,  Spiritism  and  the  Cult  of  the  Dead  in  Antiquity, 
New  York,  The  Macmillan  Co.,  1921,  Chaps,  viii-xiii. 

'Josh.  7:26;  2  Sam.  i8:i7f.;  Gen.  35:20;  31:30;  35:2, 
4;  I  Sam.  15:23;  19:13-  ^    , 

'i   Sam.  16:14;  21:12-15;  24:7;  Judg.  9:23;  2  Kmgs  19:7. 

*i  Sam.  28:3,  9;  Isa.  8:19;  19:3;  2  Kings  21:6;  23:24; 
Deut.  18: 11;  Lev.  19:31- 

**  I  Sam.  28:  11-19;  Job  4:  I5;  2  Mac.  15:  12-16;  Josephus,  Ant 
xvii.  13:4;  IVar,  ii.  7:  4. 

141 


142        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

powers  in  parting  from  the  body,  and  were  commonly 
known  as  rephaim, ''  feeble  ones."  ^ 

2.  71ie  abode  of  the  dead. — In  the  earliest  times 
spirits  of  the  dead  were  thought  to  maintain  a  close 
connection  with  their  corpses.'  A  horror  was  felt  of 
remaining  unburied,  and  burial  in  the  family  tomb  was 
earnestly  desired  in  order  that  one  might  be  "  gathered 
unto  one's  fathers."  '  Subsequently,  under  Bab3donian 
influence,  the  Hebrews  came  to  think  of  the  dead  as 
dwelling  in  an  Underworld  called  Sheol.  The  two 
conceptions,,  that  the  dead  live  in  the  grave,  and  that 
they  live  In  Sheol,  were  never  harrnonized,  but  existed 
side  by  side  down  to  the  end  of  Old  Testament  history. 

3.  Worship  of  the  dead. — Because  of  their  super- 
human powers,  spirits  of  the  dead  were  known  as 
elohim,  "  gods,"  (1  Sam.  28:  13),  and  were  honoured 
like  other  gods.  The  mourning  and  funeral  rites  of 
the  Hebrews  were  similar  to  those  of  the  other  Semites, 
and  were  originally  acts  of  worship.  Garments  were 
"  rent  off  "  '  and  a  ''  sackcloth,"  or  kilt,  was  girded  on," 
the  head  was  covered,"  cuttings  were  made  in  the 
flesh,'"  the  hair  was  shorn,"  mourners  wallowed  In 
dust,"  and  fasted  at  least  until  the  evening  of  the  day 


"Job  26:5;  Psa.  88:  11  (10)  ;  Prov.  2:  18;  Isa.  14:9^-;  26:  19; 

59 :  lo- 

'Job  I4:2if. ;  i  Sam.  I7:5iff. ;  18:25,  27;  2  Sam.  4:12; 
20 :  22. 

^  Gen.  47 :  30 ;  50 :  25 ;  2  Sam.  17 :  23 ;  19 :  37 ;  21 :  14. 

"Mic.  1:8,  11;  Isa.  20:2. 

^°Gcn.  37:34;  2  Sam.  3:31;  i  Kings  21:27;  2  Kings  6:30; 
19:  I. 

"2  Sam.  13:19;  15:30;  19:4;  Mic.  3:7;  Ezek  24:17,  22; 
Est.  6:  12. 

"  Jer.  16 :  6 ;  41 :  5  ;  47 :  5  ;  48 :  37 ;  Lev.  19 :  28 ;  21 :  5 ;  Deut.  14  :i. 

"Mic.  1:16;  Isa.  15:2;  22:12;  Jer.  16:6;  47:5;  48:37; 
Deut.  21: 12;  Lev.  21 :  5. 

"Mic.  1:10;  Jer.  6:26;  Ezek.  27:30;  Est.  4:3;  Josh.  7:6; 
I  Sam.  4:12,  etc. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBEEW  KELIGION  143 

of  death/'  The  body  was  buried  with  the  utmost 
honour;  and  with  it  were  deposited  food  and  drink, 
pottery,  lamps,  implements,  weapons,  ornaments, 
amulets,  and  images  of  various  sorts.  The  graves  of 
the  patriarchs,  judges,  kings,  and  ancestors  were  seats 
of  worship  down  even  into  Christian  times/^  At  these 
graves  sacrifices  were  offered  "  and  funeral  feasts  were 
celebrated.''  Prayer  to  the  dead,  particularly  in  the 
form  of  laments,  was  usual;''  and  they  were  called  up 
by  necromancers  to  answer  questions  in  regard  to  the 
future.'" 

II.     The  Pre-Prophetic  Period 

1.  The  primitive  conception  of  spirits  zvas  un- 
affected by  Yahwism. — The  animistic  ideas  held  by  the 
early  Hebrews  were  incorporated  bodily  into  the  re- 
ligion of  Moses,  and  remained  unchanged  down  to  the 
times  of  the  prophets. 

2.  The  zvorship  of  spirits  was  forbidden  by 
Yahweh. — The  ancient  commandment  "  Thou  shalt 
have  no  other  gods  besides  me,"  excluded  worship  of 
the  dead  as  much  as  worship  of  other  divinities.  From 
1  Samuel  28:  9  It  appears  that  Saul  made  an  effort  to 
exterminate  those  who  had  familiar  spirits  and  the 
necromancers;  and  was  so  successful  that,  when,  to- 
ward the  close  of  his  reign,  he  wished  to  consult  a 
medium,  he  had  difficulty  in  finding  one.     The  prot- 

"  2  Sam.  1 :  12 ;  3 :  35 ;  12  :  21 ;  i  Sam.  31 :  13, 

'®H.  g..  Gen.  23:19;  25:9;  2  Sam.  5:3;  15:7,  12;  Judg. 
10 :  if. ;  Ezek.  43 :  7-9 ;  Isa.  65  :  3. 

"  Deut.  26 :  14 ;  Jer.  34 :  5 ;  2  Chr.  16 :  14 ;  21:19;  Psa.  106 :  28 ; 
Tob.  4:17. 

^^Jer.  16:7;  Ezek.  24:17;  Hos.  9:4;  Deut.  26:14. 

"Gen.  23:2;  Deut.  21:13;  2  Sam.  19:4;  i  Kings  13:30; 
Isa.  63 :  16. 

'"'i  Sam.  28:7-9;  Isa.  8:19;  2  Kings  21:6;  23:24;  Deut. 
18 :  II ;  Eev.  19 :  31 ;  20 : 6. 


144       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

estation  of  the  bringer  of  the  tithe  in  Deuteronomy 
26:  14,  "I  have  not  given  thereof  for  the  dead,"  is 
probably  a  fragment  of  a  liturgy  far  older  than 
Deuteronomy." 

3.  Yahzvch  appropriated  the  functions  of  the  dead. 
— Oracular  indication  now  became  his  work  in  the  lots 
of  Urim  and  Thummim.  Disease  and  insanity  were 
ascribed  to  his  activity.  Genius,  inspiration,  and 
prophecy  were  caused  by  the  operation  of  his  spirit. 

4.  Yahzveh  appropriated  the  cidt  of  the  dead. — 
Their  tombs  and  standing  stones  became  his  sanctu- 
aries. The  blood  of  their  sacrifices  became  his  most 
sacred  offering.  Everything  that  clearly  belonged  to 
their  worship  was  already  in  the  pre-prophetic  period 
claimed  as  his  due. 

5.  Rites  of  the  dead  that  were  not  clearly  acts  of 
worship  zvere  tolerated,  but  they  rendered  one  unclean. 
— Burial  and  the  rites  of  mourning  mentioned  above 
had  already  lost  their  religious  significance  as  early 
as  the  pre-prophetic  period;  consequently  these  were 
tolerated  by  Yahweh.  At  the  same  time  it  was  felt 
that  these  ceremonies  were  connected  with  "  other 
gods,"  and  therefore  rendered  one  "  unclean."  " 

6.  Sheol  stood  outside  of  the  authority  of  Yahweh. 
— It  was  a  foreign  land,  presided  over  by  its  own  gods, 
the  spirits  of  the  dead;  and  over  its  border  Yahweh 
never  passed  to  exert  his  authority.  In  the  creation 
narrative  of  J  it  is  not  mentioned  with  "  earth  and 
heaven"  as  created  by  Yahweh.  Even  in  the  late 
Priestly  account  It  is  omitted  from  the  works  of 
Elohim.  Never  once  in  pre-prophetic  literature  is 
Yahweh  said  to  descend  into  Sheol,  or  to  show  his 
power  there. 

"  Cf.  Deut.  i8 :  1 1 ;  Lev.  19 :  31 ;  20  :  6,  27 ;  Isa.  8 :  19. 
"Amos  6:  10;  Hos.  9:4;  Deut.  26:  14. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBEEW  EELIGION   146 

7.  Retribution  was  limited  to  the  present  life. — ^To 
those  who  kept  his  commandments  Yahweh  promised 
that  their  days  should  be  long  upon  the  land  which  he, 
their  god,  gave  them,  that  their  bread  and  their  water 
should  be  blessed,  that  sickness  should  be  kept  away 
from  them,  that  none  should  cast  their  young  or  be 
barren,  that  all  their  enemies  should  be  defeated. 
Those  who  broke  his  commandments  were  punished 
with  sudden  death,  with  loss  of  children  or  property, 
with  sickness,  misfortune  and  invasion  by  enemies. 
Nowhere  in  pre-exilic  literature  is  any  reward  of  virtue 
or  any  punishment  of  sin  anticipated  in  Shedlf^ 

8.  Collective  retribution, — In  lack  of  a  belief  in 
future  rewards  and  punishments  the  justice  of  Yahweh 
was  vindicated  by  means  of  the  theory  of  collective 
retribution.  The  penalty  of  a  sinner,  which  he  escaped 
by  dying,  was  visited  upon  his  relatives  or  his  descend- 
ants. This  was  an  outgrowth  of  the  primitive  Semitic 
sense  of  tribal  solidarity.  The  clan  was  held  respon- 
sible for  the  misdeeds  of  its  individual  members. 
Children  were  put  to  death  for  the  sins  of  their  fathers, 
and  fathers  for  the  sins  of  their  children.  It  seemed 
natural,  therefore,  that  Yahweh  should  deal  with  the 
group  rather  than  with  the  individual.  No  difficulty 
was  felt  with  this  theory  of  retribution  so  long  as  the 
consciousness  of  tribal  unity  remained  strong.''* 


III.     The  Prophetic  Period 

The  literary  prophets  from  Amos  onward  differed 
from  their  predecessors  chiefly  in  the  emphasis  that 

^Ex.  20:12;  23:25-31;  Gen.  38:7;  44:16;  Judg.  9:56;  2 
Sam.  16:8.  ^       X    , 

'^^Ex.  20:5;  17:16;  I  Sam.  I5:2f.;  Num.  16:27^.;  Josh. 
7:24;  I  Sam.  2:31;  2  Sam.  3:29;  12:10,  I4£. ;  i  Kings  li:ll. 


146       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

they  laid  upon  the  moral  character  of  Yahweh.  They 
perceived  that  righteousness  was  his  central  attribute. 
The  other  gods,  being  unethical,  were  no  gods  at  all. 
This  new  conception  of  Yahweh's  character  could  not 
fail  to  modify  the  conception  of  the  future  life. 

1.  The  vitality  of  the  dead  was  denied. — Like  the 
''  other  gods "  they  were  degraded  from  elohim, 
"  mighty  ones,"  to  elilim,  "  non-entities."  The  pro- 
phetic and  later  literature  denied  consciousness  and 
volition  to  them.  They  were  not  annihilated,  but  their 
existence  was  emptied  of  content;  it  was  "eternal 
sleep."  *^ 

2.  Rites  of  ancestor-zvorship  zvere  eliminated  from 
the  zvorship  of  Yahzveh. — Graves  and  the  stones  that 
stood  upon  them,  that  had  been  appropriated  by  Yah- 
weh in  the  older  religion,  were  now  condemned  along 
with  other  "  high  places."  ''  The  prohibition  was  in- 
tensified by  the  doctrine  that  graves  were  "  unclean."  " 
Bloody  sacrifices  which  had  been  transferred  to 
Yahweh  from  the  cult  of  the  dead  were  declared  by 
the  prophets  to  be  hateful  in  his  sight. 

3.  Rites  of  mourning  for  the  dead  zvere  restricted. 
— This  process  was  gradual,  and  w^as  never  carried 
through  completely.  Jeremiah  and  Ezeklel  still  regard 
shaving  the  head  and  making  cuttings  In  the  fiesh  as 
permissible  f  but  Deuteronomy  and  the  Holiness  Code 
prohibit  both  of  these  customs.'" 

4.  Yahzveh's  poiver  extended  to  Shcol. — With  tlie 
recognition  that  Yahweh  was  the  only  God,  because  he 

*'Isa.  38:11;  63:16;  E/^ek.  26:21;  Job  7:9-11;  14:21;  17: 
I5f. ;  26:6;  Psa.  8(S:iif. ;  94:17;  ii.S:i7;  Prov.  15:11;  27:20; 
Eccles.  9:  5,  6,  10;  Ecclus.  30:  i8f . ;  38:  20-23;  Bar.  2:  17. 

^°Deut.  12:  1-14,  etc.;  16:22. 

"Ezek.  43:7f. ;  Num.  19:11. 

=*Ter.  16:6;  Ezek  7:18. 

^^Deut.  14:1;  Lev.  19:27;  21:  if.,  5,  lof.;  Num.  6:6f. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBEEW  EELIGION  147 

alone  was  righteous,  went  the  belief  that  his  power 
was  not  limited  to  the  land  of  Israel,  but  that  the  whole 
world  stood  under  his  rule.  For  this  reason  Sheol 
was  now  thought  to  be  included  in  his  realm/"  When 
Yahweh's  power  was  thus  extended,  it  would  seem  as 
if  a  higher  doctrine  of  immortality  might  have  been 
developed;  but  this  extension  came  too  late.  In  the 
struggle  against  ancestor-worship  the  shades  had  been 
stripped  so  completely  of  their  faculties  that,  although 
Yahweh  was  now  present  among  them,  they  could  not 
know  him,  and  could  not  rejoice  in  his  loving-kind- 
ness. 

5.  Retribution  zvas  limited  to  the  present  life. — 
Like  the  pre-prophetic  literature,  the  Prophets  and  the 
Law  never  promise  rewards  or  punishments  in  another 
world.  This  is  not  because  Yahweh  is  unable  to  be- 
stow them,  but  because  the  dead  are  unable  to  receive 
them.  Thus  the  paradox  is  explained  that  the  pro- 
phetic religion,  which  was  preeminently  a  religion  of 
hope,  had  no  hope  of  immortality.  Over  the  gate  of 
Sheol,  as  the  prophets  conceived  it,  might  have  been 
written  the  words  that  Dante  saw  written  over  the 
entrance  to  Hell,  "  Lasciate  ogni  speranza  voi 
ch'entrate." 

6.  Collective  retribution. — The  prophets  held  the 
same  conception  as  the  earlier  religion,  that  a  man's 
rewards  and  punishments  were  often  allotted  to  his 
relatives  and  descendants.  The  penalty  due  the  ruling 
classes  fell  upon  the  nation,  and  the  sins  of  parents 
were  visited  upon  their  children.'^'  In  like  manner  the 
rewards  of  virtues  accrued  to  the  family  of  the  right- 
eous. 

""Amos  9:2;  Hos.  13:14;  Isa.  7:11;  Dent.  32:22;  Job  11:8; 
26:5f. ;  38:i6f.;  Psa.  139:8;  Prov.  15:11. 
*^Amos  7: 17;  8:8;  Hos.  8:4;  Isa.  5:25-30;  Mic.  3:12. 


148        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

IV.  The  Post-Exilic  Period 
(a)  The  rise  of  individualism  in  Israel. — As  early 
as  the  period  of  the  monarchy,  through  trade  and  Hfe 
in  cities,  the  ancient  tribal  organization  of  Israel  began 
to  break  up,  and  a  new  importance  was  attached  to  the 
individual.  This  shows  itself  in  the  social  legislation 
of  Deuteronomy  and  the  Holiness  Code,  both  promul- 
gated shortly  before  the  Exile,  in  contrast  to  the  Book 
of  the  Covenant  and  early  Hebrew  custom.''  Individu- 
alism was  fostered  also  by  the  religion  of  the  prophets. 
In  their  inaugural  visions  they  were  conscious  of  a  per- 
sonal union  with  Yahweh  that  did  not  depend  upon 
their  membership  in  the  commonwealth  of  Israel.  The 
nation  was  against  them,  yet  they  were  certain  that 
they  stood  in  the  council  of  the  Most  High.  This  ex- 
perience was  exemplified  most  perfectly  in  Jeremiah, 
whose  faith  in  God's  individual  care  triumphed  amid 
the  downfall  of  the  nation,'"  and  led  him  to  assert  that 
in  the  coming  age  Yahweh  would  write  his  instruction 
in  the  heart  of  each  individual,  so  that  all  should  know 
him  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest.'*  This  doctrine 
was  taken  up  by  Ezekiel,  and  found  magnificent  expres- 
sion in  the  words,  ''  Behold,  all  souls  are  mine ;  as  the 
soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul  of  the  son  is  mine.'"" 
The  fall  of  Jerusalem  and  the  breaking  of  the  ancient 
national  and  tribal  bonds  through  the  Exile  fostered 
this  religious  individualism,  so  that  in  post-exilic  times 
it  became  a  characteristic  feature  of  Judaism  that 
found  frequent  expression  in  the  Psalter. 

(b)     Doubt  in  regard  to  collective  retribution. — The 
new  conception  of  the  worth  of  the  individual  could  not 

"-  Deut.  24 :  if. ;  15  :  12 ;  23  :  I5f . ;  20 :  5-8 ;  24 :  5  ;  12 :  31 ;  18 :  10 ; 
24 :  16 ;  I,ev.  25  :  42. 
"Jer.  1:17-19;  17:5-18;  20:7-11. 
•*Jer.  31:31-34.  »Ezek.  18:4. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBEEW  EELIGION  149 

fail  to  suggest  difficulties  in  the  ancient  theory  of 
collective  retribution.  If,  as  the  prophets  were  never 
weary  of  asserting,  Yahweh  was  supremely  righteous, 
why  did  he  not  punish  the  sinners  themselves,  instead 
of  visiting  their  penalty  upon  their  children,  their  clan, 
or  their  nation  ?  In  the  time  of  Jeremiah  popular  dis- 
content with  the  old  doctrine  found  expression  in  the 
proverb,  "The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes,  and 
the  children's  teeth  are  blunted," "'  a  saying  which  im- 
plies that  the  divine  government  is  unjust,  and  that 
therefore  moral  effort  is  useless.  Ezekiel  found  the 
same  proverb  current  among  the  exiles  in  Babylonia,"' 
who  claimed  that,  although  they  were  innocent,  they 
were  suffering  the  penalty  of  the  sins  of  their  fore- 
fathers. The  same  difficulty  is  voiced  by  Job:  "Ye 
say,  God  layeth  up  his  penalty  for  his  children.  Let 
him  recompense  it  unto  himself,  that  he  may  know  it. 
Let  his  own  eyes  see  his  destruction,  and  let  him  drink 
of  the  wrath  of  the  Almighty.  For  what  pleasure 
hath  he  in  his  house  after  him,  when  the  number  of 
his  months  is  cut  off  in  the  midst?  "  ^  The  cardinal 
doctrine  of  prophetism,  the  righteousness  of  Yah- 
weh, was  thus  at  stake,  and  it  became  necessary  for 
Hebrew  thinkers  to  formulate  new  theories  of  retribu- 
tion. 

(c)  New  theories  of  retribution. — 1.  The  theory 
of  individual  retribution  in  the  present  life. — Ezekiel 
met  the  problem  of  his  age  by  a  bold  repudiation  of  the 
ancient  postulate  of  solidarity  in  guilt.  Instead  of  the 
doctrine  that  the  penalty  of  the  fathers  is  visited  upon 
the  children,  he  taught,  "  The  soul  that  sinneth  it  shall 
die,"  '"  and  amplified  this  proposition  at  great  length 
to  show  that  each  man  received  separately  the  reward 

"'Ezek.  18:2. 
■^Ezek.  18:4. 


'"Jer.  31:29. 
''Job  21 :  igff. 


150       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

of  his  own  deeds/"  This  recompense  was,  of  course, 
in  the  present  life,  since  Ezekiel,  Hke  the  other  prophets, 
held  that  tliere  was  no  conscious  existence  in  SheoL 

This  theory  found  favour  with  Ezekiel's  successors, 
and  was  defended  by  most  of  the  Psalms  and  Proverbs. 
Thus  Psalm  88:10  asks:  ''Wilt  thou  for  the  dead 
work  a  wonder?  Will  shades  arise  to  render  thee 
thanks?  Do  they  tell  in  the  grave  of  thy  goodness? 
Of  thy  faithfulness  in  the  world  down  below?  Can 
thy  wonders  be  made  known  in  the  darkness  ?  and  thy 
righteousness  in  the  land  of  oblivion?""  This  was 
also  the  theory  of  the  three  friends  who  argued  against 

Job." 

Ecclesiastes  (about  200  b.  c.)  knows  that  theories 
of  immortality  are  current,  but  rejects  them  as  un- 
proved: "Who  knows  the  spirit  of  the  sons  of 
men,  whether  it  ascends  upward,  and  the  spirit  of 
beasts,  whether  it  descends  downward  to  the  earth?  "  ^ 
"  The  dead  know  not  anything,  neither  have  they  any 
more  a  reward.  .  .  .  There  is  no  work,  nor  device, 
nor  knowledge,  nor  wisdom  in  Sheol  whither  thou 
goest."  "  Sheol  is  the  "  eternal  house."  ""  There  are 
no  rewards  nor  punishments  in  the  future  life.  "  One 
event  happeneth  to  them  all.  Then  said  I  in  my  heart, 
as  it  happeneth  to  the  fool  so  it  will  happen  even  unto 
me  " ;''  "  I  saw  the  wicked  buried,  and  they  came  to  the 
grave ;  and  they  that  had  done  right  went  away  from 
the  holy  place,  and  were  forgotten  in  the  city  " ;''  "All 
things  come  alike  to  all:  there  is  one  event  to  the  right- 
eous and  to  the  wicked,  to  the  good  and  to  the  evil,  to 

*^Ezek.  18:5-32;  9:3-6;   14:12-20. 

"  Psa.  34 :  iQff- ;  37 :  25,  28 ;  145  :  20 ;  Prov.  3  :  33 ;  u  :  3i- 

«  Job  4 :  8 ;  8 :  20 ;  1 1 :  20.  *'  Eccles.  3:21. 

''  Eccles.  9 :  sf .,  10.  "'  Eccles.  12 :  5. 

"Eccles.  2:14.  ^'Eccles.  8:10. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBEEW  EELIGTON  151 

the  clean  and  to  the  unclean,  to  him  that  sacrificeth  and 
to  him  that  sacrificeth  not;  as  is  the  good,  so  is  the 
smner. 

Ecclesiasticus  also  believes  neither  in  resurrection 
nor  in  immortality.  Activity  ceases  in  Sheol.^^  It  is 
eternal  rest.'°  Rewards  and  punishments  are  distrib- 
uted in  the  present  life."  Tobit  and  1  Maccabees 
occupy  the  same  position.  Enoch"  denounces  those 
who  say:  ''  Blessed  are  the  sinners,  they  have  seen  good 
all  their  life  long.  Now  they  have  died  in  prosperity 
and  riches ;  they  have  seen  no  trouble  and  no  shedding 
of  blood  in  their  life.  They  have  died  in  glory,  and 
judgment  was  not  executed  upon  them  in  their  life- 
time." This  was  the  doctrine  of  the  priestly  party  of 
the  Sadducees  over  against  the  Pharisees."  The  pre- 
exilic  doctrine  of  Sheol  and  Ezekiel's  doctrine  of  in- 
dividual retribution  in  the  present  life  they  preserved  in 
a  petrified  form,  regardless  of  the  fact  that  great 
movements  of  thought  had  occurred  that  rendered  these 
doctrines  no  longer  tenable. 

In  spite  of  its  popularity,  Ezekiel's  theory  was  open 
to  formidable  objections.  In  the  first  place,  experience 
taught  that  there  was  truth  in  the  old  theory  of  col- 
lective guilt.  The  children  of  the  drunken  and  the 
sensual  bore  the  consequences  of  their  fathers'  excesses, 
while  the  children  of  the  godly  entered  into  an  in- 
heritance of  health  and  prosperity.  Ezekiel's  message 
of  individual  responsibility  and  individual  retribution 
was  only  a  half-truth;  and,  in  the  extreme  form  in 
which  he  stated  it,  could  not  be  made  to  square  with 
the  facts  of  life.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  the 
old  doctrine  that  the  sins  of  the  fathers  were  visited 

"  Eccles.  9:2.  ''  Ecchis.  17 :  27.  '"  Eccliis.  30 :  17. 

"  Ecclus.  1 1 :  26f .  ^  Enoch  103 :  5^ • 

"  Mark  12 :  18-27 ;  Acts  23  :  8. 


152        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

upon  the  children  maintained  itself  in  Jewish  thought 
even  down  into  New  Testament  times." 

In  the  second  place,  it  was  contrary  to  experience 
that  each  man  received  in  the  present  life  the  just 
recompense  of  his  deeds.  It  was  frequently  observed 
that  the  sinners  prospered,  and  the  righteous  suffered. 
Manasseh,  the  wickedest  of  all  the  kings  of  Judah, 
reigned  in  peace  for  fifty-five  years ;  while  Josiah,  the 
reformer,  was  slain  in  the  battle  of  Megiddo.  Prophets 
like  Jeremiah  suffered  everything  at  the  hands  of  their 
contemporaries,  and  pious  worshipers  of  Yahweh  at 
the  time  of  the  captivity  fared  worse  than  apostate 
Israelites.  Such  facts  as  these  cast  doubts  upon  the 
doctrine  of  individual  retribution:  ''Righteous  art 
thou,  O  Yahweh,  when  I  plead  with  thee ;  yet  would  I 
reason  the  cause  with  thee:  Wherefore  doth  the  way  of 
the  wicked  prosper?  Wherefore  are  all  they  at  ease 
that  deal  very  treacherously  ?  Thou  hast  planted  them, 
yea,  they  have  taken  root;  they  grow,  yea,  they  bring 
forth  fruit."  " 

Defenders  of  Ezekiel's  theory  tried  to  answer  this 
objection  by  asserting  that  the  happiness  of  the  wicked 
and  the  misery  of  the  righteous  are  only  temporary. 
In  order  to  test  the  fidelity  of  His  servants  God  permits 
injustice  to  exist  for  a  while,  but  before  the  death  of 
every  man  He  will  apportion  a  just  recompense."  En- 
couraged by  this  thought,  Job's  friends,  the  Psalms  and 
the  Proverbs,  urge  men,  in  the  face  of  all  apparent  con- 
tradictions, to  hold  fast  to  the  faith  that  God  will 

"Job  5:4;  17:5;  20:10;  27:i4f. ;  Psa.  109:9-15;  Dan.  9:7- 
16;   Tob.  3:3;  Judith  7:28;   Bar.    1:15-21;   2:26;  3:8;   Matt. 

23  •■  35- 

"Jer.  12:  if.;  cf.  Job  21:7-34;  Psa.  22:1-21;  44:9-26; 
73:1-16;  Hab.  1:2-4,  13-17. 

'"Job  5:3,  18-27;  2o:4f.;  Psa.  39:  if.,  7^-;  73:  18. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  HEBREW  RELIGION  153 

reward  the  righteous  and  punish  the  wicked  in  the 
present  life. 

An  inevitable  consequence  of  this  theory  was  the  as- 
sumption that  happiness  is  the  measure  of  goodness. 
If  a  man  were  a  great  sufferer,  and  no  change  came  in 
his  fortunes,  it  must  be  assumed  that  he  was  a  great 
sinner.  This  was  the  logic  of  Job's  friends.  In  view 
of  his  unparalleled  calamities,  they  could  only  conclude 
that  he  was  the  chief  of  sinners.  At  first  they  only 
insinuated  this,  hoping  to  lead  him  to  confession ; " 
but  gradually,  emboldened  by  what  they  regarded  as 
his  obstinacy,  they  openly  accused  him  of  secret  sin."* 
Job  was  conscious  of  innocence  and  indignantly  repudi- 
ated their  charges ;  still  the  fact  remained  that  God  af- 
flicted him  and  other  upright  men.  In  view  of  this, 
he  was  forced  to  abandon  the  theory  of  individual 
retribution  in  the  present  life:  *' The  just,  the  perfect 
man  is  a  laughing-stock.  .  .  .  The  tents  of  rob- 
bers prosper  and  they  that  provoke  God  are  secure  " ; ''' 
"  It  is  all  one  therefore,  I  say,  he  destroyeth  the  perfect 
and  the  wicked.  If  the  scourge  slay  suddenly,  he  will 
mock  at  the  calamity  of  the  innocent.  The  earth  is 
given  into  the  hand  of  the  wicked."  *" 

2.  The  theory  of  retribution  through  resurrec- 
tion.— While  Job  was  struggling  with  the  mystery  of 
suffering,  the  question  suddenly  flashed  into  his  mind, 
Was  it  not  possible  that  a  vindication  of  his  innocence 
might  come  after  death  ?  That  could  not  be  in  Sheol, 
since  there  conscious  existence  ceased,  but  might  not 
God  bring  him  back  to  life  again,  so  that  on  earth  and 
in  the  flesh  he  should  receive  the  reward  of  virtue? 
The  cut-down  tree  revives.  May  not  man  also  awaken 
from  the  sleep  of  death  ? 

"  Job  4 :  7 ;  8 :  3ff.  ''  Job  ii :  ?>-6.  ''  Job  I2 :  4-6. 

®°Job  9:22-24;  cf.  10:3;   16:11-17;   19:6-21;  21:7-34;  27:2, 


154        EELIGIOJSr  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

There  is  hope  for  a  tree,  if  it  be  cut  down,  that  it 

will  sprout  again, 
And  that  the  tender  branch  thereof  will  not  cease. 
Though  the  root  thereof  wax  old  in  the  earth, 
And  the  stock  thereof  die  in  the  ground; 
Yet  through  the  scent  of  water  it  will  bud. 
And  put  forth  boughs  like  a  plant  (Job  14:  7-9). 

At  first  the  poet  rejects  the  thought  of  resurrection 
as  inconceivable. 

But  a  man  dieth,  and  is  prostrate. 

And  a  mortal  expireth,  and  where  is  he? 

As  the  water  vanisheth  from  the  sea. 

And  as  the  river  drieth  up  and  is  arid, 

So  man  lieth  down,  and  doth  not  arise : 

Till  the  heavens  be  no  more,  they  shall  not  awake, 

Nor  be  roused  out  of  their  sleep  (14:  10-12). 

But  the  new  hope  that  has  risen  within  him  still 
asserts  itself. 

O  that  thou  wouldest  hide  me  in  Sheol, 

That  thou  wouldest  conceal  me  until  thy  wrath  should 
turn  away. 

That  thou  wouldest  appoint  me  a  set  time  and  re- 
member me. 

If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again? 

All  the  days  of  my  enlistment  would  I  wait, 

Till  my  discharge  should  come. 

Till  thou  shouldest  call,  and  I  should  answer  thee. 

Till  thou  shouldest  long  for  the  work  of  thy  hands 
(14:13-15)- 

The  hope  here  expressed  does  not  mount  to  the 
height  of  assertion,  and  the  theme  Is  not  pursued  far- 
ther at  this  point;  but  in  19:  25-27,  Job  again  returns 
to  it,  and  this  time  states  as  a  conviction  what  before 
had  been  only  a  vague  longing. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  HEBREW  RELIGION  155 

But  I  know  that  my  avenger  liveth, 

And  one  who  shall  survive  after  I  am  dust; 

And  that  another  shall  arise  as  my  witness, 

And  that  he  shall  set  up  his  mark. 

From  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God, 

Whom  I  shall  see  for  myself,  ^^ 

And  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  and  no  stranger. 

This  cannot  refer,  as  many  commentators  have  sup- 
posed, to  a  vision  of  God  in  the  other  world,  for  Job 
has  asserted  too  often  his  conviction  that  there  is  no 
knowledge  in  Sheoir'  It  must  be  interpreted  in  the 
light  of  the  hope  that  struggles  to  expression  in 
14:  7-15,  that  there  is  such  a  thing  as  a  return  from 
Sheol  to  the  life  upon  earth.  "  From  my  flesh,"  ac- 
cordingly, cannot  mean  "  disembodied,"  but  must  mean 
"  reembodied."  The  vindication  of  a  disembodied 
spirit  would  be  at  variance  with  the  whole  development 
of  Old  Testament  thought  up  to  this  point,  while 
resurrection  would  not  seem  inconceivable  to  one  who 
believed  that  Yaliweh's  power  extended  to  Sheol''  and 
that  at  various  times  he  had  brought  men  back  from 
the  gates  of  death.^* 

There  is  no  evidence  for  the  existence  of  a  doctrine 
of  resurrection  among  the  Babylonians  or  among  the 
preexilic  Hebrews.  The  sudden  emergence  of  this 
hope  in  the  Book  of  Job  may  be  due  simply  to  the 
logical  working  of  the  author's  mind  upon  the  two 
tenets  of  prophetic  theology,  the  righteousness  of 
Yahweh  and  the  lifelessness  of  Sheol;  but  it  may  also 
be  due  to  direct  or  indirect  influence  of  the  Persian  re- 
ligion, in  which  the  doctrine  of  resurrection  was  highly 

"Translated  from  the  text  as  revised  by  Duhm  on  the  basis 
of  the  Septuagint. 
^Tob  7:9;  14:21;  17:15^- 
^^Job  11:8;  26:5f.;  38:i6f. 
•*i  Kings  I7:2if.;  2  Kings  4*32ff.;  13:21. 


156        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

developed.  By  most  recent  critics  the  Book  of  Job  is 
dated  late  in  the  Persian  period,  and  it  is  certain  that 
Persian  ideas  exerted  an  influence  upon  the  eschatology 
of  later  Judaism. 

The  hope  of  an  individual  resurrection  expressed  by 
Job  is  extended  to  the  righteous  of  Israel  as  a  class  by 
an  apocalypse  of  the  late  Persian  period  in  Isaiah, 
chapters  24^27:  "  Thy  dead  shall  arise;  the  inhabitants 
of  the  dust  shall  awake,  and  shout  for  joy;  for  a  dew 
of  lights  is  thy  dew,  and  to  life  shall  the  earth  bring 
the  shades." ""  This  idea  is  based  upon  a  literal  in- 
terpretation of  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  valley  of  dead 
bones."^  Here  the  raising  of  the  dead  army  is  only  a 
symbol  of  the  restoration  of  Judah,  but  in  this 
apocalypse  it  is  interpreted  as  a  literal  resurrection. 
According  to  this  author  only  the  righteous  rise,  and 
it  is  not  stated  expressly  that  all  of  these  are  included. 
The  wicked,  who  have  oppressed  Israel,  are  to  remain 
in  the  dreamless  sleep  of  Sheol:  "  They  will  be  swept 
together  as  prisoners  into  a  pit,  and  led  down  to  be 
confined  in  a  dungeon ;  thus  after  many  days  they  will 
be  punished  " ; "'  ''  The  dead  will  not  live  again,  the 
shades  will  not  rise ;  to  that  end  thou  didst  punish  them, 
thou  didst  destroy  them,  and  cause  all  memory  of  them 
to  perish."  ^  Here  Sheol  appears,  not  as  the  common 
fate  of  all  men,  as  in  the  preexilic  period,  but  only  as 
the  pimishment  of  the  wicked,  while  the  reward  of  the 
righteous  is  that  they  escape  from  Sheol,  and  partici- 
pate in  the  messianic  kingdom  of  the  restored  Israel. 
Through  the  rising  of  the  righteous  dead  the  numbers 
of  the  feeble  Jewish  community  shall  be  increased,  and 
it  shall  become  a  conquering  power  in  the  earth. "  Thus 
the  eschatology  of  the  individual  is  combined  with  the 

^  Isa.  26 :  19,  text  of  Diihm  and  Cheyne.  *"  Ezek.  ^7. 

*"  Isa.  24 :  22.  ^  Isa.  26 :  14.  '"  Isa.  26 :  15-18. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBKEW  RELIGION   157 

eschatology  of  the  nation  in  a  manner  nowhere  sug- 
gested in  the  Book  of  Job. 

3.  The  theory  of  retribution  after  resurrection. — A 
further  step  in  the  doctrine  of  resurrection  is  taken  in 
Daniel  (165-164  b.  c):  ''And  many  that  sleep  in  the 
land  of  dust  shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and 
some  to  shame  and  everlasting  contempt.  And  those 
that  teach  wisdom  shall  shine  like  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament,  and  those  that  turn  many  to  righteousness 
like  the  stars  forever  and  ever."  '"  Here  not  all  the 
righteous  are  raised  to  everlasting  life,  but  only 
"  many,"  apparently  the  righteous  priests  and  scribes 
who  suffered  martyrdom  in  the  persecutions  of  Anti- 
ochus  Epiphanes.  Many  of  the  wicked  also  are  raised. 
The  reason  seems  to  be  that  the  sleep  of  Sheol  is  not 
regarded  as  a  sufficient  penalty  for  them.  Justice  re- 
quires that  they  too  shall  come  to  life,  in  order  that 
they  may  receive  the  "  shame  and  everlasting  con- 
tempt "  that  their  sins  deserve.  The  prophetic  con- 
ception of  death  as  existence  without  thought  or  feel- 
ing is  still  too  strong  to  allow  the  author  to  think  of 
either  rewards  or  punishments  in  Sheol.  Hence  he 
must  bring  both  the  good  and  the  bad  back  to  earth, 
in  order  that  they  may  receive  the  just  recompense  of 
their  deeds. 

The  resurrection,  which  hitherto  has  been  asserted 
only  for  the  conspicuously  righteous,  or  the  conspicu- 
ously wicked,  is  extended  by  later  writings  to  all  the 
dead.  Thus  In  2  Esdras  4:41  we  read:  "In  the 
grave  the  chambers  of  souls  are  like  the  womb;  for 
like  as  a  woman  that  travaileth  maketh  haste  to  escape 
the  anguish  of  the  travail,  even  so  do  these  places  haste 
to  deliver  those  things  that  are  committed  unto  them 

'"Dan.  I2:2f. 


158       EELIGION  AND  THE  FIJTUEE  LIFE 

from  the  beginning";  7:  32:  "  The  earth  shall  restore 
those  that  are  asleep  in  her,  and  so  shall  the  dust  those 
that  dwell  therein  in  silence,  and  the  chambers  shall 
deliver  those  souls  that  were  committed  unto  them  '* ; 
Enoch  51:  1:  '*  In  those  days  shall  the  earth  give  back 
those  that  are  gathered  in  her,  and  Sheol  shall  restore 
those  it  has  received,  and  Abaddon  shall  render  up  what 
has  been  intrusted  to  it";  Apoc.  Bar.  21:  23:  ''May 
Sheol  be  sealed  up  henceforth,  that  it  receive  no 
more  dead;  and  may  the  chambers  of  souls  restore 
those  that  are  shut  up  in  them.'*^"T^This  general  resur- 
rection of  all  men,  to  receive  tliF  judgment  of  the 
last  day,  became  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Pharisees 
and  of  the  Talmud."  '' 

Through  a  return*  to  life  on  earth,  in  which  the 
righteous  are  rewarded  and  the  wicked  are  punished, 
the  problem  of  individual  retribution  received  a  fairly 
complete  solution ;  nevertheless,  some  difficulty  still  re- 
mained. It  did  not  seem  just  that  the  righteous  should 
suffer  the  temporary  extinction  of  Sheol  along  with 
the  wicked,  even  though  they  were  raised  again  at  the 
last  day.  Pious  souls,  who  had  known  communion 
with  God  in  this  life  could  not  believe  that  He  would 
leave  them  to  the  oblivion  of  Sheol  for  centuries  be- 
fore He  would  renew  His  fellowship  with  them.  More- 
over, those  who  were  living  when  the  last  day  came, 
or  those  who  had  died  recently,  enjoyed  a  great  ad- 
vantage over  the  ancient  saints  who  were  compelled  to 
wait  for  ages  before  their  release  came.  These  con- 
siderations led  in  the  Grseco-Roman  period  to  the  as- 
sertion of  a  larger  vitality  of  disembodied  spirits  and 
to  belief  in  a  judgment  that  took  place  at  death. 

4.     The    theory   of   retribution   zvithoiit   resurrec- 

"  Acts  23  :6ft. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  HEBREW  RELIGION   159 

fion. — The  magnificent  heritage  of  Greek  thought  on 
the  subject  of  immortahty  from  the  early  Orphists 
down  to  Plato  was  well  known  to  the  Jews  in  Alex- 
andria, and  must  have  been  accepted  more  or  less  ex- 
tensively in  Palestine.  Wherever  it  was  received  men 
could  believe  that  retribution  occurred  at  death,  and 
could  try  in  one  way  or  another  to  combine  the  Greek 
conception  with  the  Perso-Jewish  doctrine  of  resur- 
rection. These  efforts  led  to  a  number  of  new  theories 
of  the  future  life,  some  in  accord  with  the  Platonic 
doctrine,  others  similar  to  the  ancient  Hebrew  con- 
ceptions. 

The  Book  of  Wisdom  never  mentions  a  resurrec- 
tion, but  teaches  exclusively  the  Platonic  doctrine  of 
immortality.  ''  God  created  man  for  incorruption, 
and  made  him  an  image  of  his  own  being."  "  Birth 
is  a  fall  from  a  higher  existence,"  in  which  the  soul 
receives  a  body  in  accordance  with  its  deserts  in  a 
previous  life.'*  The  body  is  a  clog  upon  the  immortal 
spirit,''  and  death  is  a  blessed  release  from  imprison- 
ment.'" The  righteous  pass  at  death  to  an  immediate 
reward,"  but  the  wicked  are  punished  with  eternal  tor- 
ments.'^ 

These  thoughts  are  beautifully  expressed  in  genuine 
Platonic  language  in  Wisdom  2 :  23-3 :  6. 

God  created  man  for  Incorruption,  -"" 

And  made  him  an  image  of  his  own  proper  being; 

But  by  the  envy  of  the  Devil  death  entered  into  the 

world, 
And  they  that  are  of  his  portion  make  trial  thereof. 
But  the  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hand  of  God,  -^ 

«  Wisd.  2 :  23.  "  Wisd.  7:3-  "  Wisd.  8 :  20. 

"Wisd.  9:15-  ^'Wisd.  4:7-15. 

"Wisd.  1:15;  3-2^;  4*7.  10,  13. 
"Wisd.  2:24;  3:18;  4:i8f. 


160        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

And  no  torment  shall  touch  them. 
,^  In  the  eyes  of  the  fooUsh  they  seemed  to  have  died; 

And  their  departure  was  accounted  their  hurt, 

And  their  journeying  away  from  us  to  be  their  ruin; 

But  they  are  in  peace. 

For  even  if  in  the  sight  of  men  they  be  punished, 
-    Their  hope  is  full  of  immortality ; 

And  having  borne  a  little  chastening,  they  shall  re- 
ceive great  good ; 

Because  God  made  trial  of  them,  and  found  them 
worthy  of  Himself. 

The  same  view  meets  us  in  4  Maccabees.''  The 
patriarchs  and  other  saints  dwell  with  God,  and  are 
joined  at  death  by  the  righteous,  particularly  by 
martyrs  for  the  faith.  A  similar  belief  was  held  by 
Philo,  and  by  the  Essenes,  if  we  may  trust  the  testi- 
mony of  Josephus."" 

It  is  possible  that  the  doctrine  of  immortality  with- 
out resurrection  is  taught  in  a  few  psalms  of  the  late 
Greek  period.  Thus  in  Psalm  16:  9-11  we  read: 
*'  Thou  dost  not  commit  me  to  Sheol,  nor  sufferest  thy 
faithful  ones  to  see  the  Pit.  Thou  teachest  me  the 
pathway  of  life;  in  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joys, 
fair  gifts  are  in  thy  right  hand  forever";  Psalm 
17:  15:  "  I,  who  am  righteous,  shall  look  on  thy  face, 
and  shall  be  refreshed  at  (thine?)  awakening,  with 
a  vision  of  thee";  Psalm  49:  13-15:  "This  is  their 
fate,  who  are  full  of  self-confidence,  and  the  end  of 
those  in  whose  speech  men  take  pleasure.  Like  sheep 
unresisting  they  are  cast  down  to  Shcol,  Death  is  their 
herdsman,  their  form  soon  falls  to  decay,  Sheol  is  be- 
come their  dwelling.  God  alone  can  redeem  my  life 
from  the  hand  of  Sheol  when  it  seizes  me  " ;  Psalm 

"4  Mac.  5:37;  7'Z,  19;  9:8;  13:17;  14:5^-;  15:3;  16:13; 
17:  5,  12;  18:  16,  23. 
^  ^Antiquities,  xviii.  1:5;  War,  ii.  8:  ii. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBREW  RELIGION   161 

73:  23-26:  "  Yet  do  I  stay  by  thee  ever,  thou  holdest 
my  right  hand  fast,  thou  leadest  according  to  thy 
counsel,  and  takest  me  by  the  hand  after  thee.  Whom 
have  I  in  heaven?  Whom  beside  thee  do  I  care  for 
on  earth  ?  My  body  and  my  heart  pass  away,  but  the 
rock  of  my  heart  and  my  portion  is  God  evermore/' " 
In  these  passages  it  is  doubtful  whether  an  individual 
speaks,  or  the  nation;  and,  if  it  be  an  individual, 
whether  the  redemption  from  Sheol  means  more  than 
that  one  is  kept  from  dying.  The  probability  is  that 
none  of  these  utterances  refer  to  a  survival  of  the  indi- 
vidual after  death.  In  that  case  the  Greek  doctrine 
of  immortality  is  not  found  in  any  of  the  writings  that 
have  been  admitted  to  the  Old  Testament  canon. 

5.  The  theory  of  retribution  before  resurrection. — 
This  doctrine  first  appears  in  the  oldest  portion  of  the 
Book  of  Enoch,  chapters  1-36,"'  which  some  critics 
date  as  early  as  ITO  b.  c,  but  which  others  assign  to 
the  reign  of  John  Hyrcanus  ( 135-105  B.C.).  In  chap- 
ter 22  Sheol  is  described  as  containing  three  divisions,  - 
two  for  the  wicked  and  one  for  the  righteous.  One 
contains  the  souls  of  the  wicked  who  have  received 
their  punishment  in  this  life.  They  shall  remain  there 
forever,  and  not  be  raised  at  the  last  day.  The  second 
contains  the  wicked  who  have  not  been  punished  in  this 
life.  *'  Here  their  spirits  are  placed  apart  in  this  great 
pain,  till  the  day  of  judgment,  and  punishment,  and 
torment  of  the  accursed  forever."  The  third  division 
contains  the  saints.  These  dwell  already  In  Paradise, 
and  drink  of  the  water  of  life,  while  they  await  their 
resurrection. 

"  These  passages  are  quoted  from  the  revised  text  and  version 
of  Wellhansen. 

*^See  Charles,  The  Book  of  Enoch;  Kautzsch,  Apocryphen  und 
Pseudepigraphen ;  Charles,  Apocrypha  and  Psendepigrapha  of 
the  Old  Testament. 


162        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

In  the  Parables  of  Enoch  (chaps.  37-71),  which 
probably  date  from  a  time  shortly  before  the  beginning 
of  the  Christian  era,  the  righteous  pass  at  once  after 
death  into  blessedness  in  the  presence  of  God,  and  are 
guarded  by  the  preexistent  ''  Son  of  Man." "'  At  the 
time  of  the  coming  of  the  "  Son  of  Man  "  they  are  to 
be  raised  to  life,  in  order  that  they  may  share  in  the 
blessedness  of  the  messianic  kingdom.'* 

A  similar  conception  appears  in  another  independent 
section  of  the  Book  of  Enoch  (chaps.  102-4) :  "  I 
swear  to  you  now,  ye  righteous  .  .  .  that  good  of 
every  sort,  joy  and  honour,  are  prepared  and  recorded 
for  the  spirits  of  those  who  have  died  in  righteous- 
ness. .  .  .  Woe  to  you  sinners,  w^hen  ye  die  in 
your  sins,  and  your  comrades  say  of  you,  blessed  are 
the  sinners.  .  .  .  Know  ye  not  that  their  souls 
are  brought  down  to  Sheol,  that  they  fare  ill,  and  that 
their  affliction  will  be  great?  "  ^ 

In  this  development  of  the  doctrine  of  retribution  it 
is  impossible  not  to  recognize  Greek  influence.  The 
theology  of  the  Prophets  and  of  the  Law  culminated  in 
a  denial  of  conscious  existence  in  Sheol.  Consequently 
a  belief  in  rewards  or  punishments  In  the  other  world 
was  impossible  on  a  purely  Plebrew  basis.  Resurrec- 
tion, with  the  final  attendant  judgment,  was  the  only 
conception  that  was  natural  for  a  Jewish  mind  trained 
in  the  eschatology  of  the  canonical  Scriptures. 

The  difficulty  with  all  such  combinations  was  that  a 
judgment  at  death  made  a  last  judgment  unnecessary ; 
consequently  there  was  no  longer  need  for  the  dead  to 
rise  in  order  that  they  might  receive  the  rewards  of 
their  deeds;  the  temptation,  accordingly,  was  strong 

"' Enoch  38:  i;  40:5;  43^4;  49:3;  60:6;  61:12;  70:4. 

"Enoch  51:1. 

•"Enoch  103:  if.;  cf.  Apoc.  Bar.,  30;  2  Esd.,  7. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  HEBEEW  EELIGION   163 

either  to  abandon  the  Perso-Jewish  doctrine  of  resur- 
rection in  favour  of  the  Greek  doctrine  of  inherent  im- 
mortality, or  to  abandon  the  Greek  doctrine  and  return 
to  the  Perso- Jewish  doctrine  of  resurrection. 

From  this  survey  it  appears  that  in  the  time  of 
Christ  some  of  the  Jews  still  held  the  ancient  belief  in 
the  unconsciousness  of  Sheol  and  the  divine  allotment 
of  rewards  and  punishments  in  the  present  life,  either 
to  a  man  himself,  or  to  his  relatives.  Others  had  out- 
grown the  eschatology  of  the  Prophets  and  the  Law 
and  believed  in  a  life  after  death,  either  through  resur- 
rection, or  through  a  continuation  of  the  soul's  powers 
in  the  other  world.  No  clear  conceptions  had,  how- 
ever, been  attained,  and  many  remained  sceptical  on 
the  whole  subject.  A  new  revelation  was  needed  to 
clarify  thought.  Fresh  light  must  be  thrown  upon  the 
nature  of  God,  the  nature  of  man,  and  their  relation 
to  one  another  before  the  problem  of  immortality  could 
be  solved.  That  light  came  in  Him,  through  whose 
life,  and  teaching,  and  rising  again  from  the  dead,  life 
and  immortality  have  been  brought  to  light. 


VII 

IMMORTALITY  IN  GREEK  RELIGION 
Arthur  Fairbanks 

IN  the  extant  literature  of  the  classic  period  in 
Greece  the  only  writer  who  has  discussed  at 
length  the  question  of  immortality  is  Plato.  He 
treats  it  in  connection  with  his  system  of  philosophy, 
basing  his  views  indeed  on  Greek  religious  belief  but 
not  handling  the  subject  as  primarily  a  religious  one 
nor  giving  any  hint  of  the  development  of  a  belief  in 
immortality  in  religion.  Consequently  the  writings  of 
Plato  throw  only  indirect  light  on  the  subject  under 
consideration.  It  must  be  approached  from  the  point 
of  view  of  Greek  religion  and  studied  in  connection 
with  different  phases  in  the  development  of  that  re- 
ligion. 

The  study  of  Greek  religion,  as  contrasted  with 
Greek  mythology,  is  relatively  modern.  It  has  been 
hindered  first  by  the  great  development  of  stories 
about  the  gods  and  heroes  in  Greece  which  obscured 
the  conception  of  the  gods  as  objects  of  worship,  and 
secondly  by  the  tendency  of  investigators  to  indulge 
in  brilliant  speculation  rather  than  to  interpret  the 
facts  available.  Although  the  data  for  such  a  study 
are  abundant,  they  are  not  always  easy  to  interpret. 
Especially  for  the  earlier  periods  the  study  results  in 
general  and  abstract  statements,  which  depend  largely 
on  the  soundness  of  the  investigator's  judgment.     It  is 

164 


IMMOKTALITY  IN  GREEK  RELIGION       165 

all  the  more  important  to  focus  attention  on  what  facts 
we  have,  in  order  to  reach  sound  conclusions. 

Before  the  fifth  century  b.  c.  three  periods,  or  better 
three  phases  in  the  development  of  Greek  religion  may 
be  distinguished,  the  phase  depicted  in  the  Homeric 
poems,  the  earlier  phase  presupposed  by  the  epic,  and 
the  succeeding  phase  when  the  rationalism  of  the  epic 
was  succeeded  by  a  more  personal,  mystic  type  of  re- 
ligion. The  conception  of  immortality  must  be  ex- 
amined in  connection  with  each  of  these  three  phases 
of  religion. 

I.  For  the  period  before  Homer  our  knowledge  of 
religion  and  in  particular  of  the  belief  in  immortality 
rests  on  data  from  three  sources.  The  Homeric  poems 
themselves  throw  some  light  on  the  subject.  In  addi- 
tion to  literary  evidence  we  have  secondly  archaeolog- 
ical evidence,  mainly  from  graves.  And  thirdly  there 
is  the  evidence  from  later  religious  practices  which 
can  best  be  understood  as  persisting  from  a  primitive 
age.  We  cannot  reconstruct  the  history  of  religion  or 
in  particular  of  a  belief  in  the  future  life  in  the  period 
before  Homer.  At  best  we  can  secure  some  concep- 
tion of  the  attitude  toward  death  and  the  spirits  of 
the  dead  existing  before  the  epic  and  modified  by  the 
epic  point  of  view. 

Early  graves  in  Greek  lands,  to  speak  first  of 
archaeological  data,  suggest  a  belief  not  out  of  line 
with  that  in  other  eastern  Mediterranean  countries. 
In  more  primitive  graves  the  remains  show  that  the 
body  was  in  a  crouching  posture,  the  knees  drawn  up 
to  the  chin;  later  it  was  laid  flat,  and  with  no  partic- 
ular orientation.  In  parts  of  Crete  a  square  burial 
chamber  with  a  passage  leading  to  it  was  presently 
cut  in  the  rock  for  chieftains  and  nobles;  later  the 
characteristic  Mycenaean  "  beehive  tomb  "  was  devel- 


166        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

oped,  with  its  entrance  passage,  its  domed  chamber 
used  in  funeral  ceremonies  if  not  in  worship  of  the 
dead,  and  its  burial  trenches  or  second  burial  chamber. 
The  occurrence  of  beehive  tombs  widely  scattered  in 
Mediterranean  countries  indicates  the  extent  of  this 
phase  of  civilization.  In  general  the  dead  were 
furnished  more  or  less  fully  with  the  apparatus  of 
daily  life,  in  simpler  graves  with  a  few  pottery  vessels 
and  figurines,  in  the  splendid  Mycenasan  graves  with 
vessels  of  bronze  and  silver  and  gold,  arms,  jewellery, 
carved  ivory,  etc.,  and  in  one  set  of  graves  portrait 
masks  of  gold  were  placed  over  the  faces  of  the  dead. 
Very  thin  objects  of  gold  and  the  occasional  use  of 
miniature  vessels  suggest  the  unsubstantial  nature  of 
the  dead.  There  is  evidence,  though  slight,  that  food 
was  placed  in  these  vessels  at  burial  and  was  brought 
to  the  tomb  after  burial.  Fragments  of  bath  vessels 
at  the  entrance  of  a  Mycenaean  tomb  seem  to  mean 
that  baths  were  provided  for  the  dead.  Layers  of 
ashes  with  fragments  of  bones  from  animals  are  evi- 
dence of  continued  burnt  offerings  at  and  in  the  large 
beehive  tombs,  and  the  sacrificial  pits  at  Tiryns  and 
in  the  grave  circle  at  Mycenae  presumably  indicate  that 
blood  was  allowed  to  flow  down  to  the  dead.  Schlie- 
mann  found  remains  of  human  sacrifices  at  these  early 
graves.' 

These  practices  are,  of  course,  evidence  of  honour 
and  respect  to  the  dead.  Further  they  imply  an  effort 
to  prolong  a  shadowy  existence  of  the  soul  at  the 
grave,  doubtless  an  existence  in  some  relation  to  sur- 
viving members  of  the  family.  Such  is  the  view 
which  was  so  highly  developed  in  Egypt  where  most 

^  Schuchhardt,  Schliemann's  Excavations,  English  trans., 
pp.  i62f.,  301,  107,  157,  296;  Stengel,  Festschrift  fiir  L.  Fried- 
lander,  S.  425f.;  Jahr.  Arch.  Inst.  XIII  (1898),  I3f . ;  XIV,  io3f. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      167 

elaborate  provision  was  made  to  provide  the  soul  with 
an  imperishable  body  in  the  form  which  it  would  rec- 
ognize as  its  own,  to  furnish  it  with  food  or  the  sem- 
blance of  food  for  indefinite  ages  in  the  future,  and 
to  provide  it  with  the  magic  formulae  needed  for  its 
safety  and  happiness.  In  themselves  the  early  Greek 
remains  do  not  throw  much  light  on  the  question 
whether  the  ceremonial  is  purely  an  act  of  piety,  or 
whether  it  aims  to  prevent  harm  and  secure  blessing 
for  the  sui-vivors.  Although  the  more  interesting  fea- 
tures occur  in  the  large  Mycenaean  tombs,  tombs  of 
chieftains  of  a  race  which  was  subdued  by  the  ances- 
tors of  the  Greeks  we  know,  the  evidence  cannot  be 
neglected. 

The  second  line  of  investigation  for  the  period  be- 
fore direct  literary  evidence,  is  the  study  of  later  prac- 
tice. Perhaps  no  customs  are  so  slow  to  change  as 
religious  ritual,  and  where  changes  are  introduced  the 
old  forms  still  tend  to  survive  and  reappear.  Just 
as  heathen  customs  persist  to-day  from  centuries  ago, 
their  origin  forgotten  now  that  a  Christian  interpre- 
tation has  so  long  been  given  them,  so — ^but  in  far 
more  marked  degree — forms  of  ritual  from  early  ages 
persisted  in  the  periods  of  Greek  history  which  we 
know  best.  Sometimes  they  find  a  place  in  the 
Olympian  religion,  sometimes  they  remain  in  spite  of 
it.  Their  existence  is  attested  by  allusions  in  classical 
authors,  though  many  details  come  from  late  com- 
ments on  these  allusions.  None  of  the  greater  gods 
has  a  worship  entirely  free  from  alien  elements,  rites 
apparently  from  a  primitive  age  and  to  be  explained 
only  by  habits  of  thought  among  savage  races.  Pigs 
of  Demeter,  left  to  rot  that  their  remains  might  be 
scattered  on  the  fields  and  bring  fertility ;  animals  torn 
in  pieces  and  eaten  raw  in  the  worship  of  Dionysus; 


168        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

sheep  burned  to  ashes  at  the  Diasia  to  Zeus  Meilichios, 
often  himself  represented  as  a  serpent;  two  men  driven 
from  the  city  or  in  early  time  put  to  death  to  appease 
Apollo  at  the  Thargelia;  rites  of  initiation  when  man- 
hood was  attained ;  rites  in  connection  with  the  rebirth 
of  vegetable  life  in  spring;  rites  of  purification  gen- 
erally— all  these  are  out  of  line  with  the  conception  of 
the  Olympian  gods  and  the  communion-meal  sacrifice 
in  their  honour. 

Rites  for  the  dead  were  not  limited  to  the  funeral 
and  to  gifts  which  men  brought  to  the  tomb.  At 
Athens  offerings  and  libations  were  made  to  the  dead 
at  the  grave  on  the  thirtieth  of  each  month,  on  the 
birthday  of  the  deceased,  and  at  the  city  ''All  Souls  " 
festival,  the  Genesia  in  early  autumn.  The  most  strik- 
ing rites,  however,  occurred  at  the  Anthesteria,  a 
spring  festival  to  Dionysus  when  the  casks  of  new 
wine  were  opened.'  Though  the  first  two  days  of  the 
feast  were  filled  with  Bacchic  revelry,  culminating  in 
the  marriage  of  the  king  archon's  wife  to  Dionysus, 
the  temples  of  the  gods  were  closed  because  the  spirits 
of  the  dead  were  abroad.  Not  only  wine  jars,  but 
tombs  conceived  as  burial  jars,  were  open;  each  man 
summoned  to  his  house  the  spirits  of  his  dead  and 
feasted  them,  while  pitch  on  the  door  posts  kept  other 
souls  away  and  every  pains  was  taken  not  to  anger 
them;  finally,  on  the  third  day  the  souls  are  banished 
to  their  proper  haunts.  The  particular  interpretation 
of  these  rites  is  difficult  to  ascertain  with  any  confi- 
dence; that  they  are  an  inheritance  from  early  ages 
is  a  reasonable  assumption;  and  their  significance  as 
touching  belief  in  souls  surviving  after  death  is  fairly 
clear.  There  is  no  question  that  the  soul  survives,  that 
it  has  power  to  harm  if  not  to  bless  the  living,  and 

'A.  Mommsen,  Feste  der  Stadt  A  then  in  Altertum,  S.  384£. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      169 

that  the  family  and  tribal  relations  continue  between 
the  souls  of  the  dead  and  living  men.  The  souls  de- 
sire food  and  are  pleased  by  it ;  they  are  easily  stirred 
to  anger;  they  are  free  to  visit  the  living  only  at  cer- 
tain times ;  but  whether  they  have  any  real  conscious- 
ness, whether  they  can  be  called  "  immortal,"  what 
their  life  is,  we  do  not  know.  It  is  fair  to  say  that  the 
rites  are  not  simply  rites  of  aversion  or  riddance,  but 
also  rites  of  tendance;  that  these  mysterious  powers 
are  known  to  men  not  simply  as  objects  of  fear,  but 
as  sources  of  blessing. 

Thirdly  survivals  in  early  literature,  particularly 
in  the  Homeric  poems,  throw  light  on  belief  in  the 
period  that  preceded.  The  epic  conception  of  the  uni- 
verse, as  we  shall  see,  is  clear,  definite,  and  reasonably 
consistent.  The  universe  is  ruled  by  gods  patterned 
after  man;  mysterious  incalculable  forces  in  the  spirit 
realm,  the  divine  beings  of  a  more  primitive  age,  find 
no  longer  any  place  in  the  world ;  and  with  other  such 
forces,  the  reality  or  effective  existence  of  the  spirits 
of  the  dead  pales  to  the  merest  shadow.  Souls  go  to  _ 
the  House  of  Hades  when  the  body  of  the  dead  is  \ 
burned;  thenceforward  they  affect  living  men  no  \ 
more.  But  to  use  the  comparison  of  Erwin  Rohde: ' 
Just  as  certain  organs  remain  in  the  human  body  as 
mere  rudiments,  after  their  usefulness  in  earlier  bio- 
logical phases  has  ceased,  so  in  the  epic  there  appear 
rudiments  of  an  earlier  belief,  the  reality  of  which 
has  been  set  aside.  Such  a  phrase  as  "  propitiate  the 
dead  by  fire"  (II.  7.409),  and  the  need  of  burial  lest 
the  neglected  soul  be  an  "  occasion  of  divine  wrath  " 
(II.  32.358;  Od.  11.73)  are  such  ''  rudiments  "  of  be- 
lief, only  to  be  understood  as  remainders  from  a  time 

^  E.  Rohde,  Psyche:  Seelencult  und  Unsterblichkeitsglaube  der 
Griechen,  S.  14. 


170       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

when  spirits  of  the  dead  were  potent  forces  in  a 
man's  world.  The  spirits  (/^r7/>e9,  kpt^^ue^)  which  avenge 
wrongs  to  strangers  (Od.  17.475),  enforce  the  rights 
of  the  first-born,  and  fulfill  curses  due  to  neglect  of 
duties  to  the  family  (U.  9.454,  571),  like  the  "  spirits 
from  Erebus'*  that  avenge  broken  oaths  (II. 
19.260),  are  presumably  spirits  of  the  dead;  such 
things  point  back  to  the  period  when  spirits  of  the 
dead  were  real  powers  retaining  their  relation  to  the 
family  and  the  social  group,  and  effective  to  enforce 
social  institutions.  Prophecy  at  the  moment  of  death 
(II.  16.851;  22.358-380)  and  in  dreams  is  a  familiar 
expression  of  the  belief  that  tlie  soul  has  prophetic 
knowledge  of  the  future  when  released  from  the  body. 
The  rites  of  burial,  described  in  the  twenty-third  book 
of  the  Iliad  in  connection  with  the  burial  of  Patroclus, 
sacrifices  of  cattle,  of  spirited  horses,  of  dogs  that  ate 
under  the  dead  man's  table,  and  even  of  twelve  Trojan 
youths,  are  in  themselves  tokens  of  respect  paid  to  the 
dead ;  at  the  same  time  they  can  hardly  be  understood 
except  on  the  supposition  that  they  are  drawn  from 
early  practice,  based  on  a  belief  that  souls  are  potent 
to  harm  and  to  bless  their  survivors.  Certainly  they 
would  not  have  served  the  purpose  of  the  poet  if  they 
had  been  strange,  unknown  practices  which  his  hear- 
ers did  not  understand.  Finally  the  picture  of  the 
lower  world  in  the  eleventh  book  of  the  Odyssey,  poetic 
picture  that  it  is,  cannot  be  regarded  as  a  pure  product 
of  the  imagination.  That  souls  live  on  with  at  least  a 
thirst  for  blood,  that  souls  of  the  unburied  dead  wan- 
der without  rest  and  may  be  dangerous,  that  some 
souls  like  Teiresias  retain  powers  they  possessed  while 
living,  and  the  particular  rites  for  the  evocation  of 
souls,  are  elements  drawn  from  earlier  belief  and  prac- 
tice. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  GREEK  RELIGION      171 

Combming  the  evidence  from  these  three  sources, 
we  find  that  the  facts  justify  the  following  interpre- 
tation: The  souls  of  the  dead  survive  and  preserve 
both  their  identity  and  their  relations  to  their  family, 
their  tribe,  and  their  locality.  They  retain  some  de- 
gree of  consciousness;  they  may  have  knowledge  of 
the  future;  they  have  a  mysterious  power  to  harm 
and  presumably  to  bless  those  with  whom  they  lived ; 
they  are  not  "  immortal,"  for  when  this  idea  arises  it 
is  an  attribute  of  gods,  but  depend  on  remembrance 
of  them  and  offerings  to  them  in  some  undefined  way. 
Accordingly  it  is  man's  duty  and  only  means  of  safety, 
to  avoid  their  wrath,  to  make  them  "  keep  their  dis- 
tance," and  so  to  meet  their  desires  that  they  will  help 
and  not  harm  him.  Psychologically,  the  souls  of  the 
dead  exist  because  and  while  the  memory  of  them 
exists  among  their  survivors;  their  existence  is 
changed  from  a  visible  and  familiar  form  to  one  that 
is  mysterious  and  awe-inspiring;  and  because  they 
exist  in  such  a  form,  man  must  inevitably  perform 
toward  them  such  rites  as  he  conceives  the  facts  to 
demand.  There  is  no  evidence  of  a  general  belief  in 
retribution  after  death  in  early  times  and  similarly  no 
evidence  that  men  looked  forward  to  a  blessed  state 
of  existence  after  death. 

Two  points  deserve  clear  and  definite  statement. 
First,  we  cannot  speak  of  a  developed  ancestor  wor- 
ship in  this  period.  So  far  as  we  can  discern,  men 
felt  themselves  surrounded  by  vague  and  mysterious 
forces,  the  matter  of  which  gods  are  made,  and  be- 
lieved that  in  a  measure  they  could  modify  these  forces 
to  avert  evil  and  to  secure  blessing.  These  forces  or 
influences,  whatever  word  one  may  use  to  denote  so 
vague  a  belief,  were  very  real  In  their  effect  on  man, 
otherwise  their  nature  was  not  known ;  to  modify  their 


172       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

effects,  to  ward  off  their  evil  and  to  secure  their  co- 
operation was  a  very  important  part  of  the  business  of 
life.  Among  these  vague  forces  or  influences  were 
the  spirits  of  the  dead  from  the  particular  family  and 
group  and  locality,  but  we  cannot  say  either  that  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  occupied  a  prominent  place  in  man's 
spirit  world,  or  that  the  ritual  for  them  was  developed 
into  a  considerable  ancestor  worship. 

Secondly,  there  was  no  question  whatever  that  souls 
survived  after  death.  No  one  asked  about  immor- 
tality, how  long  they  survived.  No  one  asked,  so  far 
as  we  know,  what  it  was  that  survived.  The  unques- 
tioned fact  was  that  souls  survived  and  retained 
some  relation  to  the  men  with  whom  the  dead  had 
lived.  The  fact  was  unquestioned  because  it  was  rec- 
ognized as  a  part  of  human  experience.  Men  saw 
crops  grow,  they  saw  the  sun  rise,  they  felt  the  wast- 
ing power  of  disease,  death  was  a  fact  of  experience, 
and  similarly  they  recognized  the  survival  of  the  soul 
as  a  part  of  experience.  Out  of  this  fixed  belief  the 
later  Greek  view  of  immortality  was  developed. 

11.  The  second  period  or  phase  of  Greek  religion 
is  that  described  in  the  epic.  Granted  that  the  view 
previously  stated  of  the  period  preceding  the  Homeric 
poems  is  correct,  the  importance  of  the  epic  as  a  docu- 
ment for  the  history  of  religion  becomes  evident.  It 
is  in  no  sense  a  religious  document,  but  the  light  it 
throws  on  a  vital  change  In  Greek  religion  is  compa- 
rable to  the  light  thrown  on  the  history  of  religion  else- 
where by  religious  documents.  In  order  to  grasp  its 
significance  two  points  must  be  constantly  kept  in 
mind,  (1)  that  we  are  dealing  with  poetry  composed 
to  entertain  the  people  of  Greece  with  its  pictures  of 
these  heroes,  and  (3)  that  the  poetic  imagination  in- 
evitably, necessarily,  used  material  drawn  from  hu- 


IMMOKTALTTY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      173 

man  experience.  The  poems  were  purely  a  work  of 
the  imagination ;  it  is  equally  a  matter  of  course  that 
the  imagination  played  on  familiar  facts  in  creating  its 
pictures.  These  statements  apply  to  the  epic  lan- 
guage, the  epic  story,  the  picture  of  social  and  political 
and  moral  conditions,  the  account  of  the  physical 
world;  and  they  apply  similarly  to  religion  and  the 
account  of  man's  spiritual  world.  The  ''  Olympian 
religion  "  of  the  epic  was  created  by  the  poet  out  of 
material  he  found  ready  to  his  hand. 

The  Olympian  religion  of  the  epic  means  the  belief 
in  and  the  worship  of  gods  fashioned  in  human  moulds. 
The  vague,  mysterious,  non-material  forces  or  influ- 
ences that  beset  men  of  earlier  ages  are  here  replaced 
by  gods  of  human  nature  but  with  powers  far  greater 
than  man's.  Their  knowledge  and  power  are  very 
great,  their  passions  are  great,  their  justice  as  rulers  is 
far  beyond  man's,  and  their  care  for  their  favourites 
is  stronger  and  more  effective  than  man's.  Because 
of  their  human  nature  they  can  be  influenced  as  human 
princes  are  influenced,  namely  by  gifts  and  by  the  ex- 
pression of  man's  feeling  of  dependence.  For  the 
same  reason  they  have  definite  social  relations  with 
man,  which  he  may  cultivate.  Before  the  splendour  of 
these  divine  rulers,  the  vague  spiritual  powers  men 
used  to  fear  pale  into  nothingness  and  are  almost  en- 
tirely ignored  by  the  poet.  This  is  not  the  place  to 
enquire  into  the  origin  of  Olympian  gods,  but  only  to 
state  their  significance  for  man's  view  of  his  spiritual 
environment.  I  need  only  remind  you  that  how- 
ever much  the  poet  did  to  develop  the  picture  of 
these  gods,  he  cannot  have  created  them  out  of  noth- 
ing. 

The  account  of  death  and  survival  after  death  is 
quite  in  line  with  other  features  of  this  Olympian  re- 


174        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

ligion.     Death  is  a  discordant  note  in  the  cheer  and 
gladness  of  life  for  these  epic  princes;  still  it  cannot 
be  banished ;  the  fact  remains  and  is  called  "  evil " 
(II.  3.1Y3),  " most  hateful  "  (II.  3.454),  "abhorred" 
(Od.    12.34),    the    symbol   of   what   is  most   to   be 
dreaded.    When  death  comes,  the  body  is  burned  and 
the  soul  which  has  left  the  body  goes  to  Hades.     In 
poetic  phrase,  the  soul  flies  out  of  the  mouth    (II. 
23.467),  or  the  limbs  (II.  16.856),  or  the  wound  (II. 
14.518)  ;  in  one  instance  it  is  represented  as  mourn- 
ing   its    departure    from    manhood    and    youth    (II. 
16.856-22.362).     It  preserves  the   form  of  the  de- 
ceased, it  is  in  a  sense  the  continuing  self,  but  it  has 
no  substance  any  more  than  has  a  shadow.    The  reality; 
of  life,  the  pov/er  of  achievement,  the  power  to  enjoy'' 
are  ended.     This  shadovv^y  soul  goes  to  Hades,  the; 
Invisible  King,  and  relations  with  its  survivors  are.- 
ended.  ^ 

Attention  has  already  been  called  to  inconsistencies 
in  this  view  of  the  dead,  particularly  in  books  eleven 
and  twenty-four  of  the  Odyssey,  and  book  twenty- 
three  of  the  Iliad.  The  influence  of  early  belief  was 
still  strong,  and  the  poet  could  still  draw  on  this  ma- 
terial when  he  chose;  but  he  uses  it  purely  for  his 
poetic  purpose  in  drawing  pictures  of  a  splendid  burial 
and  pictures  of  a  lower  world  with  which  men  might 
establish  connection  Avhen  they  chose. 

The  epic  view  was,  of  course,  helped  by  the  practice 
of  cremation.  In  certain  localities  the  bodies  of  the 
dead  had  been  burned  before;  but  for  the  lonians  who 
had  left  their  ancestral  homes  to  win  new  homes  in 
Asia  Minor  it  became  a  general  practice.  Instead  of 
trying  to  keep  up  a  more  or  less  fictitious  life  of  the 
dead  by  gifts  of  food  and  ritual  in  their  honour,  the 
spirits  of  the  dead  were  once  for  all  laid  to  rest.    And 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GREEK  RELIGION      175 

as  Zeus  with  his  attendant  gods  ruled  this  world  from 
Olympus,  so  Hades  and  dread  Persephone  were  im- 
agined as  ruling  the  world  of  shades  whither  the  dead 
went. 

While  the  practice  of  cremation  no  doubt  helped 
the  epic  view,  the  change  in  belief  and  practice  cannot 
thus  be  accounted  for.     It  finds  its  explanation  in  the 
Olympian    religion.      As    other    vague    non-material 
forces  were  supplanted  by  gods,  forces  to  be  feared 
for  their  very  indefiniteness,  by  gods  with  whom  men 
cultivated  definite  relations,  so  the  spirits  of  the  dead 
as  factors  in  human  life  were  also  supplanted.     The 
spiritual  powers  affecting  men  came  to  be  defined  as 
gods,  and  the  souls  of  the  dead  found  no  place  in  the 
new    spiritual    universe.      Too    much    emphasis    can 
hardly  be  laid  on  the  fact  that  for  the  epic  it  was  a 
new  conception  of  the  gods  which  all  but  nullified  be- 
lief in  the  reality  of  existence  after  death;  it  was  a 
more  developed  stage  of  religion  which  ended  fear  of  r^ 
the  dead  and  continued  care  of  the  dead.     A  close 
parallel  may  be  traced  in  the  religion  of  the  Hebrews.* 
Here   also   are   survivals   of   a   belief   in  mysterious 
powers  of  the  dead  and  of  superstitious  rites  in  deal- 
ing with  souls.    We  read  of  the  lamp  for  the  dead,  of 
gifts  of  food  to  the  dead,  of  sacrificial  feasts  for  the 
dead,  and  of  vague  practices  at  the  grave,  as  forbidden 
things.     We  read  of  the  evocation  of  the  soul  of  Sam- 
uel by  the  witch  of  Endor,  and  of  "  returning  spirits  " 
and  '*  consulters  of  spirits."    Here  also  It  Is  a  more  de- 
veloped stage  of  religion  in  the  worship  of  Jehovah 
which  ends  such  beliefs  and  practices.     The  spirits  of 
the  dead  come  to  be  regarded  as  powerless ;  they  do  not 

*B.  Stade,  Die  aUtestamentlichen  Vorstellungen  vom  Znstand 
nach  dem  Tode;  F.  Schwally,  Das  Lehen  nach  dem  Tode  nach 
den  Vorstellungen  des  alien  Israel. 


176        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

remember  God ;  they  become  silent ;  they  do  not  know 
what  happens  to  their  own  f amiUes ;  they  go  to  Sheol. 
The  old  religion  which  included  a  worship  of  the  dead, 
is  gradually  set  aside  by  the  religion  of  Jehovah  in 
which  life  after  death  is  represented  as  a  shadowy,  joy- 
less existence  in  Sheol.  The  analogy  is  useful  in 
emphasizing  the  fact  that  for  the  Greeks  as  well  as  for 
the  Hebrews  it  was  primarily  a  development  of  religion 
which  destroyed  an  earlier  belief  in  supernatural  pow- 
ers of  the  dead. 

The  objection  may  well  be  raised  that  the  epic  is 
poetry  and  as  such  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  state- 
ment of  belief.  My  purpose,  however,  is  to  point  out 
that  the  epic  inevitably  describes,  not  the  belief  of  any 
given  time,  but  a  tendency  toward  the  belief  in 
Olympian  gods;  not  an  actual  attitude  toward  life 
after  death,  but  an  account  of  life  after  death  which 
gained  its  sway  because  it  was  consistent  with  the  be- 
lief in  Olympian  gods.  Moreover  the  tremendous  in- 
fluence of  the  epic  for  centuries  was  exerted  in  favour 
of  belief  in  the  rule  of  these  gods,  and  correspondingly 
in  favour  of  the  epic  view  as  to  the  spirits  of  the 
dead. 

In  connection  with  the  epic  it  should  be  noted  that 
here  the  idea  of  immortalitv  first  appears  in  a  definite 
form,  not  as  applied  to  souls  of  the  dead  but  as  an 
attribute  of  the  gods.  Gods  differ  from  men  in  the 
degree  of  their  power,  their  passions  and  emotions, 
their  knowledge,  the  justice  of  their  rule;  the  one  fun- 
damental difi'erence,  however,  the  one  difference  in 
kind  as  opposed  to  differences  in  degree,  is  that  the 
^-gods  Jiever  die.  Later  stories  based  on  early  belief 
and"  practice  speak  of  the  death  and  rebirth  of  gods, 
but  the  Olympian  gods  of  the  epic  have  the  attribute 
of  immortality.     It  may  be  a  mere  device  of  the  poet 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      177 

to  make  the  happiness  of  the  gods  more  complete  by 
removing  the  fear  of  death;  more  probably  it  was  a 
real  development  of  religious  thought,  seized  on  and 
emphasized  by  the  poet ;  but  in  either  case  no  question 
can  arise  as  to  the  epic  view.  If  we  may  call  the  epic 
account  of  religion  rationalistic,  the  immortality  of 
the  gods  as  distinct  from  men  is  part  of  that  ration- 
alism. 

III.  The  third  phase  of  the  Greek  view  of  life  after 
death  is  connected  with  the  revival  of  mystic  religion 
in  the  seventh  and  sixth  centuries  B.  c.  The  epic  ac- 
count of  the  gods  as  divine  heroes  in  the  drama  of  the 
universe  corresponds  to  a  development  of  religion  in 
the  Greek  city-state ;  it  runs  parallel  to  the  communion 
meal  sacrifice,  the  splendid  procession,  the  athletic 
games,  all  the  worship  by  which  the  state  honoured  its 
divine  rulers  and  sought  their  favour.  The  very  ef- 
fort of  religion  to  magnify  its  gods  removed  them 
farther  from  the  individual  and  made  them  more 
vague.  The  new  individualism  which  during  the  sev- 
enth century  gained  sway  in  politics,  in  commerce,  in 
literature,  and  in  art,  appeared  also  in  religion;  the 
individual  sought  redemption  from  the  woes  of  his 
own  experience,  a  personal  salvation  which  the  appara- 
tus of  the  state  religion  had  not  furnished.  There  is 
abundant  evidence  of  a  change  in  religous  thought 
and  practice,  which  may  best  be  described  as  a  revival 
of  mystic  religion. 

The  change  was  dramatically  described  in  Greek 
story  as  the  coming  of  Dionysus  to  Greece  from  his 
northern  home  in  Thrace ;  the  religious  revival  appear- 
ing sporadically  in  many  places  was  explained  as  due 
to  the  visits  of  Dionysus  and  his  cortege.  What  these 
visits  meant  Is  most  graphically  told  In  the  Bacchantes 
of  Euripides.     The  povv^er  of  the  movement  on  popu- 


178        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

lar  thought  Is  attested  by  the  many  pictures  of  Bacchic 
revels  on  Athenian  vases  before  and  after  COO  b.  c." 

Dionysus  is  said  to  have  come  from  Thrace,  at- 
tended by  his  followers.  Their  progress  was  attended 
by  wild  orgies  of  the  people: — frenzied  dances  with 
cries  to  the  god  and  clashing  cymbals,  women  fon- 
dling wild  animals  and  then  tearing  them  in  pieces  to 
drink  their  blood  and  eat  the  raw  flesh,  women  and 
men  drinking  unmixed  wine  as  itself  the  essential  be- 
ing of  the  god.  The  result  was  a  religious  frenzy  in 
which  men  felt  the  very  presence  of  the  god  in  them- 
selves, or  the  identification  of  themselves  with  the 
god.  So  far  was  this  true  that  worshippers  were 
called  by  the  name  of  the  god — Bacchoi  (Bacchus), 
Saboi  (Sabazius),  Bassaroi  (Bassareus).  The  goal 
of  religion,  the  oneness  of  the  man  himself  with  the 
god,  was  here  realized  in  its  crudest  form.  Feeling 
himself  freed  from  the  restraints  of  the  body  and  the 
material  world,  man  saw  what  the  god  saw,  prophe- 
sied the  words  of  the  god,  lived  the  very  life  of  the 
god.  Somewhat  the  same  result  was  obtained  in  the 
worship  of  Demeter,  where  men  shared  the  experiences 
of  the  goddess,  her  sorrows  and  her  joy,  so  intimately 
as  to  feel  her  presence  if  not  to  share  her  very  nature. 

It  is  now  a  fixed  principle  that  the  nature  of  the 
gods  is  immortal ;  consequently  the  soul  which  experi- 
ences a  sharing  of  the  divine  nature  has  the  experience 
of  its  own  immortality.  Mystic  religion  thus  appears 
in  contradiction  to  the  epic  in  Its  view  of  the  soul; 
just  as  religion  had  tended  to  destroy  the  fear  of  dis- 
embodied souls,  so  now  a  new  phase  of  religion  de- 

°E.  Meyer,  Geschichte  des  Alteriums  II,  S.  729 f . ;  E.  Rohde, 
Psyche,  S.  299f. ;  cf.  von  Wilamowitz,  Homerische  Untersuchun- 
gen,  S.  2o6f . ;  K.  Sittl,  Dionysisches  Treihen  und  Dichten  um 
7  und  6  Jahrhimdertj  Wurzburg,  1898. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      179 

veloped  belief  in  the  divine  nature  of  the  soul.  In 
both  instances  we  are  dealing  not  with  a  theological 
proposition  as  such,  but  with  belief  based  on  the  re- 
ligious experience  of  the  individual.  When  a  man 
felt  himself  possessed  by  Dionysus,  when  a  man  him- 
self shared  the  experiences  of  Demieter  till  he  felt  the 
bond  uniting  him  with  the  goddess,  then  his  experience 
taught  him  that  his  own  spirit  was  akin  to  the  divine 
and  consequently  was  immortal. 

The  profound  effect  of  the  new  phase  of  religion 
should  cause  no  wonder.  While  it  proclaimed  itself  as 
the  coming  of  a  new  god  from  the  north,  its  appeal 
found  an  immediate  response  in  the  minds  of  the  peo- 
ple. On  the  one  hand  it  met  a  religious  need  not  sat- 
isfied by  the  religion  of  the  city-state,  that  splendid 
ritual  in  honour  of  divine  rulers  on  Olympus  whose 
relations  to  men  were  no  more  intimate  and  personal 
than  the  relations  of  human  rulers  to  their  subjects. 
On  the  other  hand  it  found  among  the  peasants  ele- 
ments of  ancient  ritual  of  kindred  meaning,  which  it 
adopted  and  extended  to  serve  its  purpose.  Alien  as  it 
was  to  the  Olympian  religion,  it  was  not  wholly  alien 
to  Greece.  The  fear  of  vague  spiritual  forces  had 
never  been  wholly  banished  by  the  epic.  Old  mystic 
rites,  particularly  rites  for  reviving  the  spirit  of  vege- 
table life  in  the  spring,  readily  lent  themselves  to  a  re- 
ligion which  taught  the  rebirth  of  the  soul  at  death. 

The  new  movement  found  expression  during  the 
sixth  century  in  the  Orphic  religion.^  Who  Orpheus 
was,  where  he  lived,  whether  there  ever  was  one 
founder  of  this  religion  we  do  not  definitely  know. 
We  do  know  that  under  his  name  there  developed  a 
more  refined,  more  spiritual  form  of  Dionysus  wor- 

'  E.  Maas,  Orpheus:  Untersuchungen  sur  griech.  roni.  altchrist. 
J enseits-dichtung  tind  Religion,  1895. 


180       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

ship,  which  was  of  a  nature  to  appeal  to  the  Greek 
genius.  We  know  that  reHgious  associations,  some- 
what like  our  churches,  sprang  up  as  a  protestant 
movement  in  different  parts  of  Greece;  and  we  know 
that  the  main  centres  of  the  movement  were  found  at 
Thebes,  at  Delphi,  at  various  points  in  Sicily,  and 
more  particularly  at  Croton  in  southern  Italy  and  at 
Athens.  We  know  that  a  definite  theology  developed 
about  the  story  of  the  Titans,  powers  of  evil,  who  de- 
voured Dionysus  and  were  burned  to  ashes  by  the 
thunderbolt  of  Zeus,  a  pantheistic  theology  which  rec- 
ognized one  god  as  ruler  of  the  world  and  manifest  in 
it.  This  theology  recognized  clearly  a  duality  of  man's 
nature  which  was  sometimes  explained  by  saying  that 
he  was  born  of  the  ashes  of  the  Titans  and  conse- 
quently had  in  himself  an  evil  and  material  element 
from  the  Titans  and  a  divine  element  from  the 
Dionysus-Zagreus  whom  the  Titans  had  devoured. 
However  it  was  explained,  the  fact  of  man's  dual  na- 
ture was  thrust  into  the  foreground  of  thought.  The 
soul,  released  from  the  body  in  dreams  and  in  ecstatic 
worship,  was  recognized  as  a  distinct  entity  over 
against  the  physical,  bodily  self;  it  was  an  entity  of 
spiritual,  divine  nature  and  therefore  immortal ;  it  was 
the  real  man  as  distinguished  from  the  accidents  it  ex- 
perienced in  the  physical  frame  of  the  body.  It  was 
"  a  fugitive  from  god  and  a  wanderer " ; '  it  was 
"  yoked  with  the  body  and  buried  in  it  as  a  tomb  "  in 
the  language  of  later  Greek  thought;  on  an  early 
Orphic  tablet  from  southern  Italy  the  soul  says  "  I  am 
a  child  of  Earth  and  starry  Heaven,  but  my  race  is  of 
heaven."  ^  The  idea  of  the  soul  as  immortal  led  to  be- 
lief in  rebirths  and  a  cycle  of  existences.  When  a  man 
died,  the  soul  went  to  Hades  only  to  be  reborn  perhaps 
'Empedocles,  i.  381.  ^Kaibel,  CIGIS,  No.  638,  17. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGIOK      181 

as  a  man,  perhaps  in  some  other  form.  So  Empedocles 
declares  he  had  been  born  "  a  youth,  a  maiden,  a  bush, 
a  bird  and  a  mute  fish  of  the  sea."  ^  But  at  length  it 
might  hope  for  freedom.  A  series  of  Orphic  tablets 
gives  the  words  of  such  a  soul:  "  I  have  flown  out  of 
the  sorrowful,  troublous  round:  with  eager  feet  I  have 
entered  the  ring  desired;  I  have  passed  to  the  bosom 
of  the  Mistress,  the  Queen  of  the  lower  world."  '" 

The  conception  of  the  soul  as  an  immortal  being 
imprisoned  for  a  time  in  the  body  necessarily  meant 
a  new  view  of  the  significance  of  human  life.  In  the 
epic  men  accepted  what  befell  them  as  fated,  or  as  the 
will  of  God,  and  found  the  satisfaction  they  might  in 
what  life  brought  them.  For  the  followers  of  Or- 
pheus, evil  was  retribution  for  sin  in  the  past,  and  the 
one  aim  of  life  was  to  avoid  sin  which  would  bring 
suffering  in  the  future, — not  necessarily  or  in  the  first 
instance  sins  against  morality,  though  that  was  in- 
cluded, but  rather  the  sinful  mode  of  life  which  bound 
the  soul  more  closely  in  its  prison  and  brought  suffer- 
ing in  future  existences.  The  theodicy  was  new,  and 
it  brought  with  it  a  new  principle  governing  human 
practice.  Outside  the  definite  sphere  of  Orphism  the 
conceptions  of  impurity  that  demanded  ritual  purifica- 
tion, and  of  sin  that  needed  expiation  gained  wide 
sway.  The  oracle  at  Delphi  was  a  potent  force  in  ex- 
plaining plagues,  failure  of  the  crops,  disaster  in  bat- 
tle, and  other  human  ills  as  the  result  of  pollution; 
and  the  same  oracle  prescribed  the  means  of  purifica- 
tion to  escape  these  ills.  The  follower  of  Orpheus, 
however,  guided  his  whole  life  by  the  purpose  to  free 
his  soul  from  the  bonds  of  evil.  Clay  and  pitch  were 
used  to  absorb  the  taint  of  evil  from  his  body;  he  did 

®  Empedocles,  U.  383-384. 

^Compagno  Tablets,  Kaibel,  CI  CIS,  No.  481. 


182       KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

not  eat  eggs  or  beans ;  meat  was  abjured ;  woolen  gar- 
ments were  taboo.  Special  piacular  rites  were  em- 
ployed to  meet  special  occasions.  Initiations  served  to 
develop  the  divine  nature  of  the  soul  by  promoting 
union  with  the  god.  Presumably  they  were  rites 
adopted  from  places  like  Phrygia  and  Crete,  rites  sav- 
age in  themselves,  but  here  instinct  with  spiritual 
meaning.  We  are  told  that  the  Cretans  sought  to 
possess  themselves  of  the  divine  nature  by  eating  the 
raw  flesh  of  the  bull;  the  same  rite  in  Orphic  initia- 
tions was  revived  to  symbolize  the  union  of  the  soul 
with  the  god  of  all  life.  By  these  initiations  Orpheus, 
who  had  himself  visited  the  lower  world,  taught  his 
followers  to  win  release  at  length  from  the  chain  of  re- 
births and  to  reach  the  divine  freedom  to  which  they 
were  entitled.  By  initiations,  by  magic  incantations, 
by  moral  and  ritual  purity,  the  soul  might  hope  to  real- 
ize its  true  nature. 

So  far  as  we  can  learn,  Pythagoras  was  an  apostle 
of  this  movement.  He  taught  the  divine  nature  of  the 
soul,  and  man's  duty  to  free  the  soul  from  the  bonds 
of  evil.  His  significance  lies  fij'st  in  his  effort  to  real- 
ize the  goal  of  human  life  by  means  of  an  ethico-re- 
ligious  state  at  Croton,  and  secondly  in  the  philosophic 
form  he  gave  to  his  conception  of  the  universe.  To 
the  combination  of  religion  and  philosophy  in  his  work 
may  be  traced  the  origin  of  the  concept  of  the  soul  in 
later  Greek  philosophy. 

The  Orphic  religion  remained  the  cult  of  a  relatively 
small  and  decreasing  number  of  votaries,  a  protestant 
religion  over  against  the  public  worship  of  the  city- 
state.  But  another  element  of  the  same  religious  re- 
vival found  an  important  place  in  the  state  religion  of 
Athens.  The  mysteries  celebrated  at  Eleusis  and  simi- 
lar rites  elsewhere  were  based — like  some  phases  of 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      183 

Dionysus  worship — on  the  old  peasant  worship  of 
agricultural  deities.  The  gods  of  the  dead  who  were 
buried  in  the  earth  and  of  the  grain  which  grew  out  of 
the  earth  were  quite  generally  associated,  but  the 
earlier  worship  of  these  gods  at  Eleusis  was  devoted 
to  the  earth-goddesses  in  order  to  secure  abundant 
crops.  The  Homeric  Hymn  to  Demeter  tells  the  story 
of  the  Eleusinian  goddess,  her  sorrow  in  the  loss  of 
her  daughter,  her  wanderings  in  the  search  for  Perseph- 
one, her  kindly  reception  at  Eleusis,  the  restoration 
of  Persephone,  and  Demeter's  grateful  gifts  to  Eleusis, 
the  gift  of  the  grain  and  the  gift  of  the  mysteries. 
The  same  goddess  who  gave  man  the  bread  of  life,  the 
grain  which  dies  in  the  ground  only  to  live  again  in 
the  growing  crop  and  the  ripening  harvest,  gave  man 
also  rites  in  which  he  found  the  assurance  of  a  life  for 
himself  after  death.  After  Eleusis  became  part  of  the 
Athenian  state  the  festival  began  in  Athens  with  rites 
of  purification,  following  a  proclamation  of  the  secrecy 
of  the  rites  and  of  their  limitation  to  men  of  Greek 
race.  In  a  grand  procession  the  participants  then 
marched  to  Eleusis,  sacrificing  at  shrines  along  the 
way,  and  bringing  with  them  the  statue  of  lacchus 
(a  form  of  the  infant  Dionysus).  At  Eleusis  the  rites 
lasted  three  nights  and  days;  they  included  sacrifices 
to  many  gods,  nightly  wanderings  in  imitation  of  De- 
meter  to  visit  the  spots  she  had  visited,  fasting  which 
ended  like  Demeter's  by  drinking  the  holy  mixture  of 
meal  and  water,  and  finally  the  celebration  in  the  great 
Hall  of  Initiation.  What  went  on  there  we  do  not 
know ;  there  were  "  things  done  "  and  ''  things  said," 
presumably  a  kind  of  mystic  drama  representing  the 
loss  and  restoration  of  Persephone  and  the  birth  of 
lacchus,  as  well  as  the  exhibition  of  sacred  objects; 
quite  surely  no  elaborate  teaching,  but  perhaps  a  sim- 


184       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

pie  ritual  or  some  explanation  of  what  was  shown. 
Aristotle  says  ''  the  initiates  are  not  to  learn  anything, 
but  they  are  to  be  affected  and  put  into  a  certain  frame 
of  mind."  Of  the  result  for  the  initiates  we  are  not 
left  in  doubt.  The  existence  of  something  after  death, 
shade  though  it  be,  had  never  been  questioned  by  the 
Greeks.  For  the  initiates  the  conviction  of  the  reality 
of  this  existence  of  the  soul  after  death  became  vivid, 
and  the  life  of  the  soul  associated  with  the  gods  be- 
came a  life  of  consciousness  and  blessedness.  As  men 
shared  the  experiences  of  Demeter  in  her  sorrow,  in 
her  joy,  and  in  her  gifts  to  men,  they  felt  a  mystic 
bond  uniting  them  with  her  and  with  her  daughter 
who  was  Queen  of  the  lower  world.  To  be  able  to 
claim  these  goddesses  as  their  personal  friends  and 
protectors,  goddesses  who  sympathized  with  them  in 
their  deepest  human  experiences,  was  what  men  gained 
by  sharing  the  rites  of  Eleusis.  The  chorus  in  Aris- 
tophanes' Frogs  sing  in  the  flowery  meadows  of  the 
lower  world:  *' We  alone  have  the  sun  and  its  gra- 
cious light,  we  who  have  been  initiated  in  the  mys- 
teries, and  have  lived  a  pious  life  toward  strangers 
and  our  own  people."  "  In  the  words  of  Sophocles 
**  Thrice  blessed  they  of  men  who  see  these  mystic 
rites  before  they  go  to  Hades'  realm ;  these  alone  have 
life  there,  for  others  there  all  things  are  evil."" 
There  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  result  of  the 
mysteries  was  the  clear  hope  of  a  real  and  happy  ex- 
istence of  the  soul  after  death.  Greeks  had  always 
believed  in  an  existence  after  death,  shadowy  and  joy- 
less as  it  might  be.  Those  who  at  Eleusis  felt  for 
themselves  the  favour  of  Persephone,  confidently  ex- 
pected the  same  blessing  when  they  came  into  her  pres- 
ence after  death.  Moreover  they  saw  Hades  in  the 
"  Aristophanes,  Kan.  455f.  "  Sophocles,  Frag.  719. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  GREEK  RELIGION      185 

visions,  not  as  a  dread  and  awful  king,  but  as  the 
kindly  husband  of  Demeter's  daughter.  Nor  was  this 
hope  only  for  themselves.  Worshippers  who  shared 
Demeter's  sorrow  at  the  loss  of  her  daughter,  who 
shared  her  love  which  won  back  her  daughter  and  her 
joy  in  the  restoration  of  Persephone,  could  but  feel 
that  their  own  bereavements  would  be  consoled  in  a 
life  after  death  where  they  would  rejoin  the  loved 
ones  they  had  lost. 

As  contrasted  with  the  Orphic  conception  of  the 
soul,  the  worship  at  Eleusis  was  not  connected  with  a 
theology  which  taught  man's  dual  nature,  nor  with  a 
religious  practice  which  aimed  to  free  man's  divine 
immortal  soul  from  the  prison  house  of  the  material 
world.  It  was  simply  an  experience  of  mystic  com- 
munion with  the  gods  of  Life  and  Death.  A  bond 
was  established  between  these  gods  and  the  worship- 
pers when  the  worshippers  actually  shared  the  experi- 
ences of  Demeter,  and  felt  for  themselves  the  love  of 
Demeter  which  conquered  death  and  won  back  her 
daughter.  The  experience  held  good  both  for  the 
Orphic  who  theoretically  believed  in  an  immortal  soul 
and  for  others  who  had  no  such  definite  philosophy 
of  its  existence.  Herodotus's  reference  to  the  tens  of 
thousands  who  annually  made  the  pilgrimage  to 
Eleusis,  along  with  the  many  allusions  to  the  Eleu- 
sinian  mysteries  In  Greek  literature,  indicates  the  pro- 
found impression  of  this  worship  on  Athenian  life  and 
thought.  Of  similar  "  mysteries  "  elsewhere  we  do 
not  know  the  details,  but  we  know  that  they  existed 
quite  generally  in  Greek  cities. 

It  Is  not  easy  to  say  how  far  the  thought  of  a 
blessed  life  after  death  for  the  religious  man  pre- 
vailed for  example  In  the  Athens  of  Pericles.     It  Is 


186        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

clear  that  the  Athenians  and  the  Greeks  generally,  or- 
dered their  lives  with  reference  to  this  world  rather 
than  with  reference  to  a  future  state  of  existence. 
The  epic  point  of  view  w^as  never  foreign  to  Greek 
thought.  No  people  has  enjoyed  the  satisfactions  of 
life  as  they  came  more  than  the  Greeks,  none  has  been 
more  sensitive  to  the  impressions  of  the  world  about 
them,  none  has  thrown  itself  with  greater  zest  into 
the  business  of  life  as  this  was  conceived.  Old  age 
and  death  were  inevitable  evils,  to  be  forgotten  amid 
the  joys  and  efforts  of  life.  "  To  serve  the  present 
age,  my  calling  to  fulfill "  was  essentially  a  Greek 
ideal  in  contrast  to  the  view  that  the  only  real  life  was 
in  the  future,  and  that  human  existence  must  be  or- 
dered to  secure  blessings  after  death.  Heaven  and 
Hell  found  a  small  place  in  myth,  and  a  relatively 
temporary  place  in  some  phases  of  religion;  they  never 
were  determining  factors  in  Greek  life. 

At  the  same  time  the  Greeks  never  failed  to  pay 
honour  and  respect  to  their  dead.  Old  practices  of 
sacrifice  and  libation  were  kept  up,  though  excesses 
were  limited  by  law.  The  dead  were  buried  with 
honour,  ritual  was  continued  at  the  grave  on  certain 
occasions  each  year,  and  gifts  were  brought  to  the 
tomb.  The  nature  of  these  gifts  is  seen  in  the  pic- 
tures on  white  lekythoi,  perfume  phials  found  in 
Athenian  graves  of  the  fifth  century,  b.  c.  Men  are 
pictured  bringing  to  the  tomb  flat  baskets  of  cakes 
and  fruit,  offering  phials  of  oil  or  perfume,  pouring 
libations  to  the  dead.  A  sword,  a  helmet,  a  mirror, 
or  a  fan  is  brought  to  the  dead ;  dolls  are  brought  to 
the  graves  of  children;  ducks,  finches,  rabbits,  pets  of 
the  living,  are  brought  to  amuse  the  dead.  The  seated 
man  playing  a  harp  before  the  tomb  is  probably  one 
of  his  family  making  music  for  the  soul,  as  he  had 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      187 

made  music  for  the  dead  man  while  he  lived.  On  the 
tombstones  of  the  fourth  century  at  Athens  "  the  dead 
person  is  represented  with  members  of  his  family,  a 
man  clasping  the  hand  of  his  wife  or  brother,  the 
mother  attended  by  her  husband  and  her  children. 
The  scenes  do  not  represent  parting  or  sadness,  they 
represent  the  dead  in  intimate  association  with  those 
with  whom  he  had  lived.  They  are  monuments  to  the 
relations  maintained  in  life ;  in  so  far  as  they  have  any 
meaning,  they  mean  that  these  relations  are  conceived 
as  continuing  after  death.  Like  the  gifts  brought  to 
the  grave,  they  suggest  not  souls  in  heaven  or  hell,  but 
men  who  still  care  for  the  things,  the  occupations,  the 
persons  for  whom  they  cared  when  living.  The  dead 
are  conceived  not  as  in  a  different  state  of  existence, 
but  as  they  had  lived.  The  monuments  presuppose  an 
existence,  apparently  a  conscious  existence,  of  the  souls 
of  the  dead;  but  the  nature  and  permanence  of  this 
existence  is  in  no  way  defined. 

It  was  the  business  of  philosophy  to  make  this  defi- 
nition. In  a  paper  on  immortality  in  Greek  religion  it 
is  hardly  fitting  to  take  up  the  teaching  of  Greek 
philosophy  on  the  subject  of  immortality;  yet  since 
this  teaching  was  based  on  religion  and  in  later  ages 
had  a  profound  influence  on  religion,  a  very  brief 
statement  of  it  is  not  out  of  place.  In  a  word  Greek 
philosophy  of  the  fifth  and  fourth  century  in  Athens 
accepted  the  dual  nature  of  man,  the  only  theory  of 
human  nature  which  had  been  consistently  worked  out 
in  religious  thought.  Plato  argues  for  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul  as  the  real,  the  divine  element  in 
man.  It  is  man's  business  to  develop  the  controlling 
power  of  the  reason  as  over  against  appetite  and  pas- 

"P.  Gardner,  Sculptured  Tombs  of  Hellas,  1896.  Chaps, 
X-XI. 


188        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

sion;  education  is  directed  to  this  end;  the  state  pro- 
vides the  medium  through  which  it  is  to  be  attained. 
Not  by  mystic  rites  of  weird  content,  not  by  strange 
theologies,  but  by  the  grasp  on  eternal  ideas  and  ideals 
the  soul  finds  its  true  existence.  Philosophy  becomes 
the  business  of  life  and  the  guide  of  life.  It  is  not  a 
question  of  what  follows  death,  but  a  question  of  how 
man  is  to  live;  and  the  answer  is  that  man  does  not 
live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  the  eternal  truth  for  which 
his  soul  is  fashioned.  From  the  Orphics  and  the 
Pythagoreans  Plato  adopted  the  idea  of  the  transmi-  - 
gration  of  souls,  and  he  pictures  in  various  ways  the 
retribution  for  wrongs  done  in  the  body,  the  wander-, 
ings  of  the  soul  in  its  various  existences,  and  its  final 
return  in  purity  to  the  Divine.  But  for  Plato  it  is 
man's  reason  which  is  the  means  of  his  spiritual  ascent. 
The  goal  of  life  is  attained  when  the  soul  by  its  power 
of  reason  has  vindicated  its  superiority  to  its  bodily 
frame,  has  won  freedom  from  the  weaknesses  and  ills 
connected  with  the  body,  and  has  attained  to  the  Di- 
vine likeness.    As  such  it  is  immortal. 

Aristotle  also  recognized  the  divine  nature  of  man's 
soul  in  contrast  to  the  material  body.  But  Aristotle 
based  his  conception  of  the  soul  on  its  creative  power. 
Man  passively  receives  ideas  from  the  world ;  his  abil- 
ity to  perceive  and  know  the  world,  to  feel,  to  assimi- 
late, is  passive.  On  the  other  hand  the  human  mind 
reflects  on  these  ideas  and  creates  new  ideas  of  its 
own ;  here  it  Is  not  dependent  on  the  material  world ; 
because  the  reasoning  element  of  the  mind  shares  the 
creative  nature  of  God  as  pure  reason.  It  Is  immortal 
and  eternal.  Man's  business  is  to  establish  the  control 
of  reason  In  his  life  as  over  against  the  appetites  which 
he  shares  with  the  animals,  and  thus  to  vindicate  the 
immortality  of  his  soul. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GBEEK  EELIGION      189 

I  have  merely  touched  on  the  work  of  Greek 
philosophy,  in  order  to  show  what  a  hold  the  concep- 
tion of  immortality  gained  on  the  best  Greek  thought. 
Worked  out  first  in  a  popular  mystic  religion,  the  idea 
was  loosed  from  weird  rites  and  strange  beliefs  and 
given  a  form  in  which  it  had  a  profound  effect  on  later 
thought.  In  Greece,  however,  the  philosophical  con- 
ception of  the  immortal  soul  was  the  property  of  the 
few,  not  of  the  many.  It  was  the  gift  of  Greece  to 
future  generations,  not  to  its  own  people. 

In  Plato's  Apology  he  makes  Socrates  say  that  death 
is  either  a  dreamless  sleep  or  a  blessed  life  with  the 
gods,  in  either  way  a  gain."  Such  is  perhaps  the  view 
of  the  ordinary  Athenian  as  he  approached  old  age. 
His  fear  of  death,  his  longings  for  happiness  here- 
after, his  desire  to  see  again  loved  ones  who  had  died, 
might  be  met  emotionally  by  sharing  in  the  celebration 
of  the  Mysteries  at  Eleusis.  He  might  argue  con- 
vincingly that  the  soul  is  divine  in  its  nature  and  there- 
fore immortal.  But  in  any  case,  if  his  experiences 
and  his  arguments  were  wrong,  death  was  at  its  worst 
a  dreamless  sleep,  and  the  man's  business  was  with 
the  duties  and  pleasures  which  life  brought  him. 
Probably  Thucydides  expressed  the  general  Athenian 
view  when  he  reported  the  funeral  oration  of  Pericles 
as  containing  no  reference  to  a  personal  existence 
after  death.  "  I  do  not  now  commiserate  the  parents 
of  the  dead  who  stand  here,"  Pericles  says."  "  I 
would  rather  comfort  them.  You  know  that  your  life 
has  been  passed  amid  manifold  vicissitudes;  and  that 
they  may  be  deemed  fortunate  who  have  gained  most 
honour,  whether  an  honourable  death  like  theirs,  or  an 
honourable  sorrow  like  yours,  and  whose  days  have 

**  Plato,  Apol,  40  Cf. 

"  Thucydides  II,  44 ;  trans,  by  Jowett. 


190       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTTJEE  LIFE 

been  so  ordered  that  the  term  of  their  happiness  is 
likewise  the  term  of  their  Hfe.  .  .  .  Some  of  you 
are  at  an  age  at  which  they  may  hope  to  have  other 
children,  and  they  ought  to  bear  their  sorrow  better; 
not  only  will  the  children  who  may  hereafter  be  born 
make  them  forget  their  now  lost  ones,  but  the  city 
will  be  doubly  a  gainer.  She  will  not  be  left  desolate, 
and  she  will  be  safer.  For  a  man's  counsels  cannot  be 
of  equal  weight  or  worth,  when  he  alone  has  no  chil- 
dren to  risk  in  the  general  danger.  To  those  of  you 
who  have  passed  their  prime  I  say:  *  Congratulate 
yourselves  that  you  have  been  happy  during  the 
greater  part  of  your  days ;  remember  that  your  life  of 
sorrow  will  not  last  long,  and  be  comforted  by  the 
glory  of  those  who  are  gone.  For  the  love  of  honour 
alone  is  ever  young,  and  not  riches,  as  some  say,  but 
honour  is  the  delight  of  men  when  they  are  old  and 
useless.'  '* 

Any  examination  of  the  concept  of  immortality  in 
Greece  cannot  fail  to  impress  the  student  with  the  in- 
fluence of  religion  on  its  development.  Not  that  the 
idea  of  a  soul  surviving  after  death  w^as  necessarily 
religious  in  origin.  Living  in  the  memory  of  his  as- 
sociates and  appearing  in  dreams,  the  dead  man  can 
hardly  be  conceived  as  no  longer  existent ;  on  the  con- 
trary, something  has  survived  and  passed  into  the 
category  of  vague,  undefined  influences  which  sur- 
round the  living.  Its  wants  must  be  defined  and  met, 
else  it  may  be  a  force  for  evil;  if  it  is  properly  treated, 
it  may  bring  indefinite  forces  to  bear  for  the  good  of 
its  survivors.  It  has  passed  into  that  spirit  world 
which  Is  often  more  real  to  early  man  than  the  ma- 
terial world.  If  we  use  the  word  "gods,"  for  the 
mysterious  Influences   about  men,   the  dead  become 


IMMOETALITY  IN  GEEEK  EELIGION      191 

gods, — not  immortal,  not  in  a  blessed  state,  certainly 
not  personal  gods,  but  forces  of  tremendous  im- 
portance to  man  and  greatly  to  be  feared. 

As  was  pointed  out  in  speaking  of  the  epic  point  of 
view,  it  was  a  new  phase  of  religion  which  destroyed 
the  fear  of  spirits  of  the  dead.  When  the  gods  were 
defined  as  rulers  of  the  world  and  religion  was  or- 
ganized into  worship  of  these  rulers,  no  place  was  left 
theoretically  for  such  vague  forces  as  the  dead  had 
been.  It  was  religion,  the  new  conception  of  the  gods, 
which  reduced  them  to  mere  shades  and  banished  them 
to  another  world.  Moreover  it  was  the  religion  of  the 
epic  which  developed  the  idea  of  immortality  as  an 
attribute  of  its  gods,  and  paved  the  way  for  an  ulti- 
mate belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul. 

Finally,  it  was  yet  a  third  phase  of  religion,  a  re- 
vived and  developed  mysticism  in  contrast  with  the 
rationalism  of  the  epic,  which  gave  man  the  experience 
of  union  with  the  gods  and  thus  taught  him  by  ex- 
perience that  his  own  nature  was  divine  and  immortal. 
Buddhism  did  not  need  gods,  for  it  postulated  the  di- 
vine eternal  nature  of  the  soul;  Confucianism  is  often 
said  to  find  its  gods  in  the  souls  of  the  departed  dead ; 
various  forms  of  religion  never  reached  the  idea  of 
the  soul  as  immortal;  but  for  the  Greeks,  and  in  a 
measure  for  the  Hebrews,  the  idea  of  life  after  death 
was  developed  under  the  influence  of  the  idea  of  God, 
till  it  led  to  a  belief  in  the  divine  and  therefore  im- 
mortal nature  of  the  soul. 


VIII 

IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS 
Benjamin  Wisner  Bacon 

I.     The  Synoptic  Viewpoint 

FOR  the  modern  Occidental,  more  or  less  directly 
affected  in  his  conceptions  of  the  life  to  come 
by  philosophic  argument  largely  derived  from 
Plato  and  the  Greek  thinkers,  it  is  difficult  to  appre- 
ciate symxpathetically  the  Jewish  conceptions  which  un- 
derlie the  teaching  of  our  Synoptic  Gospels.  Yet  these 
must  be  understood  if  we  would  obtain  the  real  mean- 
ing of  the  evangelists. 

It  comes  to  us  with  something  of  a  shock  of  sur- 
prise to  read  the  following  passage  in  the  leading 
Church  writer  of  the  second  century:  "If  you  have 
fallen  in  with  some  who  are  called  Christians,  but 
who  do  not  admit  this  (he  has  been  speaking  of  the 
millennial  reign),  and  venture  to  blaspheme  the  God 
of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob;  who  say  there  is  no 
resurrection  of  the  dead,  and  that  their  souls  when 
they  die  are  taken  to  heaven;  do  not  imagine  that  they 
are  really  Christians.  ...  I,  and  others  who  are 
orthodox  Christians  on  all  points,  are  assured  that 
there  will  be  a  resurrection  from  the  dead,  and  a  thou- 
sand years  In  Jerusalem,  which  will  then  be  rebuilt, 
adorned,  and  enlarged,  as  the  prophets  Ezekiel  and 
Isaiah   and   others   declare." '     Justin   Martyr,    who 

^Dial.  with  Trypho,  Ixxx. 
192 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    193 

writes  this  about  150  a.  d.,  could  tolerate  Jewish- 
Christians  who  held  that  Christ  was  "man  born  of 
men,"  so  long  as  they  did  not  insist  on  Gentile  be- 
lievers observing  the  Mosaic  ordinances  to  which  they 
clung  themselves.  But  he  refused  the  very  name  of 
Christian  to  those  whose  doctrine  of  immortality  in- 
cluded no  return  from  the  underworld  to  reign  with 
Christ  in  a  visible  restored  Jerusalem.  To  say  that 
"  our  souls  when  we  die  are  taken  to  heaven,"  was 
for  Justin  equivalent  to  blasphemy  of  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  who  had  promised  the 
patriarchs  this  reign.  How  many  of  us  would  be  able 
to  call  ourselves  Christians  if  Justin's  standards  pre- 
vailed to-day? 

And  yet  Justin  regards  himself  on  the  general  ques- 
tion of  immortality  as  a  devout  disciple  of  Plato, 
Pythagoras  and  other  Greek  philosophers,  though  his 
doctrine  is  of  conditional,  not  intrinsic  or  inalienable 
immortality.  *' The  souls  of  the  pious  remain  in  a 
better  place,  while  those  of  the  unjust  and  wicked  are 
in  a  worse,  waiting  for  the  time  of  judgment.  Thus 
some  who  have  appeared  worthy  of  God  never  die; 
but  others  are  punished  so  long  as  God  wills  them  to 
exist  and  be  punished." '  If  we  go  back  another  cen- 
tury to  a  Christian  environment  scarcely  affected  by 
Greek  philosophy  we  shall  find  a  still  wider  divergence 
from  modern  ideas.  We  shall  be  approximating  those 
Jewish  and  Jewish-Christian  sources  to  which  Justin 
had  accommodated  his  Greek  philosophy. 

The  viewpoint  of  Mark,  the  earliest  of  our  extant 
Gospels,  is  already  affected,  as  I  shall  later  attempt  to 
show,  by  the  teaching  of  Paul.  The  same  is  true  of 
the  two  subsequent  writings  whose  narrative  Is  mainly 
based  on  Mark,  the  double  work  Luke-Acts,  and  the 
'Ibid.  V. 


194        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

Gospel  of  Matthew.  These  writers  are  affected 
not  only  in  what  they  take  over  from  Mark,  but 
to  an  even  greater  extent  in  portions  where 
they  depend  upon  other  unknown  sources.  Never- 
theless all  three  of  the  Synoptic  writings  (thus 
called  to  distinguish  them  from  the  widely  dif- 
ferent, completely  Pauline,  fourth  Gospel)  in 
spite  of  the  Greek  dress  for  which  they  have  ex- 
changed their  original  Semitic  idiom,  are  fundamen- 
tally Jewish  in  their  world-conception  and  point  of 
view.  And  the  characteristic  thing  about  this  Jewish 
idea  of  the  life  to  come  is  that  it  is  not  primarily  a 
doctrine  of  immortality  at  all.  It  is  really  a  doctrine 
of  escape  from  what  stood  for  immortality  in  primi- 
tive Jewish  belief.  Resurrection  in  its  proper  sense 
means  return  from  the  grave  to  a  renewed  life  in  the 
body, — indeed  Justin,  and  the  rest  of  the  second  century 
fathers,  who  give  us  the  original  Greek  of  the  so-called 
Apostles'    Creed    say    plainly    "  in     the    flesh "    (rr;? 

Resurrection  Jewish-Christian  thought  may  claim 
as  its  very  own.  No  Greek  thinker  will  dream 
of  disputing  it.  The  Greek's  belief  is  really  a  belief 
in  immortality.  He  holds  to  a  persistence  of  soul-life 
after  death,  whether  in  heaven  or  elsewhere.  He  may 
imagine  Isles  of  the  Blest  beyond  the  setting  sun,  or 
Tartarus  beneath  the  earth  as  a  place  of  torment  for 
the  damned.  He  never  thinks  of  return  to  earth.  The 
Jew  is  either  a  Sadducee  who  admits  no  persistence  at 
all  of  conscious  soul-life,  or  else  a  Pharisee,  one  of  the 
sect  who  in  the  later  years  of  Judaism  were  driven  to 
admit  a  return  from  Sheol,  that  shadowy  realm  of 
ghost-life  beneath  the  earth,  of  at  least  the  most  heroic 
and  deserving  of  the  dead  to  share  in  the  joys  of  the 
messianic  reign. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    195 

Of  course  from  the  moment  when  Pharisees  began 
to  dispute  with  Sadducees,  the  question  could  not  fail 
to  be  asked,  '*  With  what  body  do  they  come?"  It 
received  various  answers.  But  the  essence  of  the  mat- 
ter was  the  escape  of  the  soul  thus  divinely  redeemed 
from  Sheol,  brought  back  from  the  gloomy  prison- 
house  of  the  dead.  For  indeed  the  soul's  mere  persist- 
ence after  death  was  deemed  a  poor  boon  indeed.  In 
the  best  of  cases  it  was  only  a  provisional  storing  up 
for  the  glorious  "  age  to  come  " ;  in  the  worst  it  would 
be  a  corresponding  holding  in  chains  for  ultimate  pun- 
ishment. In  all  cases  immortality  alone,  for  the  Jew, 
means  a  mere  survival  of  the  belief  common  to  all 
primitive  peoples  of  the  ghost-life  of  the  shadow- 
world.  To  allege  that  Jehovah's  promise  to  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob  means  no  more  than  this  is  "  blas- 
phemy." For  Jehovah,  in  all  Jewish  thought  both 
earlier  and  later,  is  emphatically  not  a  God  of  the  dead, 
like  Minos  or  Rhadamanthus,  or  Pluto,  or  Hades,  but  a 
God  of  the  living.  To  become  members  of  the  king- 
dom which  He  intends  to  inaugurate,  the  souls  of  the 
righteous  dead  must  be  delivered  from  their  prison. 
The  gates  of  Sheol  must  be  broken  down  before  them, 
as  when  Israel  came  forth  out  of  the  house  of  bondage 
and  the  darkness  of  Egypt,  or  as  when  Jehovah  a  sec- 
ond time  put  on  the  armour  of  His  vindication  and  de- 
liverance and  broke  the  gates  of  brass  and  bars  of  iron 
of  the  captivity  in  Babylon.  Moreover,  the  returning 
dead  must  be  clothed  with  some  sort  of  body,  else  they 
will  be  but  pitiful  shadows  and  ghosts,  present  at  the 
banquet  of  the  Kingdom,  but  deprived  of  all  real  share 
in  it. 

In  the  older  days  the  prophets  had  been  the  states- 
men of  the  national  religion.  Hence  necromancy,  and 
the  attempt  to  hold  converse  with  the  dead  was  con- 


196        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

demned  and  denounced  along  with  witchcraft.  It  in- 
volved disloyalty  to  Jehovah,  illicit  dealing  with  the 
enemy."  The  very  contact  with  any  dead  body  made 
one  ritually  "  unclean."  Much  more  was  it  forbidden 
to  participate  in  rites  symbolizing  the  death  and  resur- 
rection of  Adonis,  or  to  cut  one's  flesh  for  the  dead. 
One  might  not  even  meet  the  thirst  of  the  pitiable 
shades  for  momentary  renewal  of  their  former  exist- 
ence by  pouring  for  them  libations  of  wine  or  blood  to 
reanimate  their  bloodless  frames.  In  the  later  time  all 
hope  of  restoration  of  the  national  life  lay  in  a  super- 
natural intervention  of  Jehovah.  But  mere  deliver- 
ance of  the  living  from  the  alien  yoke  was  conceived 
as  but  the  lesser  part  of  His  working.  His  conquest  of 
the  powers  of  death  and  hell  was  the  greater  part.  A 
late  addition  to  Isaiah  *  promises  this  deliverance  of 
the  dead.  In  Jesus'  time  the  masses  of  the  people  be- 
lieved that  the  gates  of  Sheol  would  not  prevail  against 
the  Deliverer,  when  at  last  He  should  come.  Their 
struggle  was  not  so  much  against  the  yoke  of  Rome  as 
"  against  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly 
places  "  who  were  "  world-rulers  of  this  darkness." 
The  history  of  this  belief  in  Palestine  makes  it  widely 
different  from  that  of  Greece.  It  is  essentially  a  re- 
turn from  the  grave,  a  restoration  of  the  spirit  to  the 
body;  not  a  release  of  the  soul  from  the  body  to  enter 
its  natural  sphere  of  immortality  somewhere  beyond 
the  grave.  Israelites  who  come  at  last  to  believe  in  a 
share  (for  at  least  some  of  the  dead)  in  the  life  of 
"  the  age  to  come  "  do  so  in  spite  of  centuries  of  oppo- 
sition on  the  part  of  all  the  religious  leaders  of  the 


'  The  remark  is  a  just  one  that  where  messianism  is  strong  the 
hope  of  immortality  is  weak,  and  conve^sel3^  The  personal  hope 
tends  to  flourish  at  the  expense  of  the  national. 

*  Is.  26-27.     See  especially  26:  19. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    197 

past  to  everything  pertaining  to  the  nature-worship  of 
the  Canaanite  reHgions  whose  ritual  looks  toward  par- 
ticipation in  nature's  annual  renewal  of  life.  When 
they  accept  the  doctrine  they  do  so  purely  and  simply 
on  religious  grounds,  not  in  the  least  because  they  have 
learned  from  their  philosophers  to  consider  the  soul  a 
monad  incapable  of  dissolution,  or  believe  in  the  con- 
servation of  energy  in  the  form  of  a  mysterious  force 
known  as  vitality.  It  is  simply  a  reasonable  religious 
hope  in  Jehovah,  a  confidence  that  He  will  keep  His 
promise  to  the  patriarchs  to  make  their  seed  His  people 
even  should  it  require  His  invasion  of  the  gloomy  re- 
cesses of  Sheol  and  rescue  of  its  prisoners. 

Both  Greek  philosopher  and  Jewish  religious  teacher 
fall  back  ultimately  upon  the  Animistic  view,  instinc- 
tive to  all  primitive  peoples,  that  the  spirit  which  leaves 
the  body  inert  with  the  parting  breath  is  hovering 
somewhere  about,  revealing  its  presence  in  dreams, 
capable  (if  only  the  right  spell  were  found)  of  being 
recalled  to  its  accustomed  haunts  and  ways.  The 
Greek  philosopher  finds  a  rational  ground  for  the  an- 
cient belief.  He  argues  from  the  nature  of  soul  as 
ethereal  and  indestructible.  The  Jewish  teacher  takes 
refuge  in  the  power  and  goodness  of  Jehovah,  whom 
he  personifies  as  champion  of  his  imprisoned  people. 
Both  postulate  immortality  in  the  sense  of  continued 
existence  of  the  soul;  and  the  Jew  is  even  truer  than 
the  Greek  to  the  primitive  form  of  the  belief,  since  he 
scarcely  advances  beyond  the  conviction  that  this  life 
of  the  "  shades  "  is,  and  must  ever  remain,  a  poor, 
weak,  bloodless  existence,  more  pitiable  than  that  of 
the  lowest  menial  in  the  upper  regions  of  sunlight  and 
the  zest  of  life.  "Art  thou  become  weak  like  one  of 
us?  "  cry  the  peering  shades  in  Isaiah  14:  10  as  Nebu- 
chadnezzar is  "  brought  down  to  Sheol."     But  the 


198       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

Greek  tries  to  reconcile  himself  to  this  inevitable  fate. 
He  paints  scenes  of  delight  in  the  Elysian  Fields  or 
fables  Gardens  of  the  Hesperides.  He  even  persuades 
himself  by  his  philosophy  that  he  is  better  off  without 
the  body.  The  cumbrous  flesh  is  but  the  prison  of  the 
soul.  As  the  butterfly  emerges  from  the  chrysalis  to 
soar  on  wings  of  beauty  in  the  light,  so  will  it  be  for 
the  spirit  when  it  frees  itself  from  the  clay.  It  will 
find  itself  in  its  true  environment,  and  recognizing  at 
last  that  the  things  which  are  seen  are  temporal,  the 
things  not  seen  eternal,  will  marvel  that  ever  it  mistook 
shadow  for  substance,  and  rejoice  that  the  illusion  is 
past.  So  the  Alexandrian-Jewish  author  of  Wisdom 
of  Solomon  (9:  15).  But  this  author,  like  Philo, 
Platonizes. 

It  is  the  opposite  road  that  is  taken  by  genuinely 
Jewish  faith.  So  long  as  it  is  true  to  itself  it  is  never 
reconciled  to  the  shadow  life.  In  the  later  time, 
when  it  is  forced  to  meet  the  scoffs  of  Greek  philos- 
ophy at  its  crude  picture  of  the  coming  age,  it  changes 
here  and  there  a  detail,  or  adapts  itself  where  it  must. 
It  borrows  from  Persian  and  Greek  a  Paradise  and  a 
Gehenna,  thus  providing  preUminary  limbos  of  par- 
tial bliss  for  the  righteous,  foretastes  of  perdition 
for  the  wicked.  It  accommodates  its  doctrine  of 
physical  restoration  to  the  unsuitability  of  this  earthly 
frame,  especially  if  crippled  or  mutilated  here,  mak- 
ing certain  qualifications  and  provisos  to  meet  the 
ideal  conditions  assumed  for  the  "  age  to  come."  For 
purposes  of  recognition  all  bodies  when  they  first  arise 
will  retain  their  earthly  blemishes  and  imperfections. 
As  soon  as  friends  have  identified  one  another  these 
will  be  miraculously  removed.  All  bodies  will  be  per- 
fect. Since  there  should  no  longer  be  need  of  the 
command  "  Increase  and  multiply  and  fill  the  earth  " 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    199 

those  who  have  a  share  in  the  ''  age  to  come  '*  will  be 
uni-sexual.'.  Other  adjustments  and  accommodations 
are  found,  as  difficulties  are  suggested  by  reflexion  or 
cast  up  by  opponents.  All  these  are  mere  expedients, 
evasions  rather  than  answers,  to  the  question,  "  With 
what  body  do  they  come?"  Ever  the  hope  of  the 
Jew  is  against  separation  from  the  land  he  loves  and 
the  bodily  life  that  to  him  is  alone  real  "  life."  He 
cannot  be  satisfied  while  a  realm  remains  outside  the 
dominion  of  Jehovah,  holding  captive  those  who  once 
had  been  loyal  subjects  of  Jehovah's  rule.  The  Greek 
makes  the  most  of  his  ''  immortality."  The  Jew  either 
will  hear  nothing  of  life  beyond,  or  he  insists  upon 
"  resurrection."  He  must  have  return  from  among 
the  dead.  First  the  Kingdom  of  God,  the  supremacy 
of  God's  will  upon  the  earth,  in  the  presence  and  with 
the  participation  of  all  His  people.  After  that  add 
what  you  will. 

II.     The  Teaching  of  Jesus  in  Galilee 

Encounter  with  Sadducees  was  a  great  exception  in 
the  ministry  of  Jesus.  In  Galilee,  at  least  in  the  hum- 
bler circles  among  whom  Jesus  lived,  there  w^ould  sel- 
dom be  seen  one  of  the  priestly  aristocracy  of  Jeru- 
salem. Even  in  Jerusalem  Jesus  would  have  little  oc- 
casion for  any  interchange  with  the  Sadducean  priest- 
hood save  as  He  roused  their  hostility  by  exciting 
messianic  agitation  liable  to  bring  on  Roman  inter- 
vention to  the  taking  away  of  their  tolerably  com- 
fortable place  and  partial  control  of  the  nation.  As  a 
rule,  therefore,  we  cannot  expect  in  the  Galilean  min- 
istry any  record  of  argument  in  proof  of  a  doctrine 

^  Bth.  Enoch  1:4;  Apoc.  Bar.  49-51.  "  They  shall  be  made  like 
unto  the  angels." 


200       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

which  the  mass  of  Jesus'  hearers  would  accept  as  mat- 
ter of  course.  We  must  consider  first  His  ordinary 
teaching,  afterward  the  exceptional  case. 

The  matter-of-course  references  to  the  future  life, 
if  I  may  so  designate  those  in  which  Jesus  merely 
takes  for  granted  the  traditional  beliefs  of  His  hearers, 
are  all,  I  think,  of  one  class.  They  are  alLappjsaJs.  to 
the  great  moral  law  of  retribution  which  Paul  sum- 
marizes in  the  ancient  proverb,  ''  Whatsoever  a  man 
soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap."  They  reenforce  the 
motives  to  right  living  of  the  old-time  prophets  by 
extending  the  boundaries  of  Jehovah's  kingdom  with- 
out limit  either  in  time  or  space.  "  Fear  not  those 
that  kill  the  body,  but  fear  Him  that  hath  power  to 
destroy  both  soul  and  body  in  hell.'* "  Learn  the  higher 
use  of  money.  A  mere  swindling  steward  is  shrewd 
enough  to  know  that  by  making  concessions  to  the 
landlord's  creditors  he  can  feather  his  own  nest  for 
times  of  adversity.  Let  us  take  the  hint  that  friend- 
ship and  gratitude  are  powers  that  can  bridge  even  the 
grave.  "  I  say  unto  you.  Make  to  yourselves  friends 
by  means  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness,  and 
they  will  receive  you  into  the  eternal  habitations."  ' 
So  Jesus  broadens  and  deepens  moral  motives  by  the 
power  of  an  endless  life.  He  bids  the  self-indulgent 
rich  realize  that  the  moral  law  outlasts  all  provision 
for  fleshly  appetite,  and  remember  that  a  time  is  com- 
ing when  the  starveling  at  his  gate  may  have  the  com- 
forts and  he  the  torment.  To  the  penitent  thief  he 
offers  a  share  in  His  own  place  in  the  Father's  house. 
These  teachings  are  not  new  so  far  as  they  merely 

"Cf.  Aboth  R.  Nathan  24,  the  saying  of  R.  Jochanan  b. 
Zacchai  on  the  greater  terrors  of  the  divine  judgment. 

^  Cf.  the  rabbinic  teaching  cited  by  Nork  (Rahb.  Quellen,  p. 
147)  from  the  preface  of  Chesed  Samuel  2b  "  The  poor  make 
intercession  on  behalf  of  the  (charitable)  rich  in  heaven." 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    201 

presuppose  the  common  Pharisean  doctrine  of  the 
**  Age  to  Come."  They  are  to  be  studied  for  two 
purposes:  first,  that  we  may  appreciate  their  essential 
message,  the  true  new  principle  that  Jesus  appHes  to 
the  conditions  He  confronts ;  second,  that  we  may  avoid 
a  certain  misuse  of  them  that  is  very  common.  We 
must  cease  to  draw  from  them  unwarranted  inferences 
in  matters  that  do  not  concern  the  message,  but  are 
only  part  of  the  common  background  of  current  behef. 

Let  me  give  first  an  ihustration  of  the  misuse  I  have 
in  mind.  In  Mark  9 :  43-48  Jesus  gives  three  ex- 
amples of  the  relative  importance  of  values  in  things 
material  as  against  things  eternal.  It  is  better,  He 
says,  to  enter  into  life  maimed  as  to  right  hand,  right 
foot,  or  right  eye,  than  having  every  member  whole 
to  be  cast  into  the  unquenchable  fire.  I  suppose  there 
are  no  longer  any  so  materialistic  in  their  views  of  the 
life  beyond  as  to  hold  that  the  possession  or  lack  of 
hands  and  eyes  and  feet  at  death  makes  any  difference 
to  the  spiritual  body.  Christians  will  probably  now 
grant  that  we  are  not  compelled  to  hold  to  the  persist- 
ence of  mutilations  in  the  life  to  come  because  of  the 
particular  form  of  Jesus'  illustration.  Even  if  we 
assumed  because  of  the  ordinary  form  of  belief  in  His 
time  that  He  Himself  presupposed  this  conception,  we 
should  not  consider  that  He  endorsed  it.  We  say  quite 
rightly.  He  was  not  talking  about  the  nature  of  the 
resurrection  body,  or  its  relation  to  the  earthly;  He 
w^as  simply  reminding  His  followers  as  they  faced 
possible  martyrdom  that  no  sacrifice  is  too  costly  for 
entrance  into  the  eternal  life.  He  was  measuring  the 
value,  as  He  so  constantly  does,  of  things  temporal  by 
comparison  with  things  eternal. 

But  what  about  the  closing  verse?  Do  we  apply 
the  same  logic  there?     The  warning  ends,  if  you  re- 


202       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

member,  with  a  characterization  of  the  Gehinnom  into 
which  those  are  cast  who  are  adjudged  unworthy  to 
"  enter  into  life."  It  is  "  where  their  worm  dieth  not, 
and  the  fire  is  not  quenched."  Is  not  that  a  direct 
endorsement  of  those  lurid  pictures  we  find  in  the 
apocalyptic  writings  of  the  time,  Ethiopic  Enoch,  or 
the  Apocalypse  of  Peter?  Does  it  not  imply  the 
eternal  torments  of  the  damned?  Must  we  not  judge 
of  this  as  of  the  great  phrase  which  our  first  evan- 
gelist coins  into  a  refrain  five  times  repeated  in  his 
Gospel:  "  There  shall  be  the  weeping  and  the  gnashing 
of  teeth,"  or  of  the  awful  picture  of  judgment  with 
which  he  concludes  his  account  of  the  public  ministry: 
''  These  shall  go  away  into  eternal  punishment,  but  the 
righteous  into  eternal  life  "  ?  Does  not  Jesus  here 
pave  the  way  for  Tertullian,  and  make  Himself  spon- 
sor for  the  vindictive  hell  of  our  human  craving  for 
vengeance  ? 

If  we  so  reason  we  are  not  only,  as  it  seems  to  me, 
inconsistent  with  our  own  logic,  but  we  do  a  threefold 
injustice  to  the  real  message  of  Jesus.  To  begin  with, 
let  me  venture  a  general  caveat.  We  have  no  right 
(in  my  personal  judgment)  to  insist  to  this  extent 
upon  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the  Gospels.  They  are 
not  only  translations  of  Jesus'  originally  Aramaic  ut- 
terances; they  are  free  traditional  reports,  w^ritten 
down  a  full  generation  later,  by  evangelists  who  often 
vary  widely  from  one  another  in  reporting  the  same 
utterance.  Moreover  all  scholars  wall  agree  that  the 
particular  utterances  characteristic  of  our  first  Gospel 
which  threaten  the  penalties  of  hell  with  such  reitera- 
tion, utterances  of  w^hich  the  great  concluding  parable 
of  the  last  Judgment  (Matt.  25:31-46)  is  typical, 
must  be  taken  to  reflect  in  peculiar  degree  the  special 
convictions  of  this  evangelist.     The  passage  in  Mark 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    203 

9:  43-48,  with  which  we  are  now  dealing,  is  not  in- 
deed to  be  classed  with  the  special  denunciations  of 
judgment  characteristic  of  Matthew,  but  it  is  of  the 
Matthean  type.  It  has  the  same  literary  structure 
which  characterizes  many  of  Matthew's  longer  dis- 
courses. And  this  polished  artistic  form  is  not  easily 
explained  in  comparison  with  most  of  the  sayings  of 
Jesus,  unless  we  admit  some  degree  of  literary  recast- 
ing by  the  writer  to  give  rhythmic  form,  strophic  bal- 
ance and  cadence.  Especially  does  the  recurrent  re- 
frain (verses  43,  45,  47)  belong  rather  to  poetic  art 
than  to  colloquial  speech.  I  am  not  here  propounding 
an  argument  which  can  be  pressed  to  avoid  a  difficulty, 
and  I  do  not  propose  to  deal  with  the  record  otherwise 
than  as  if  every  word  were  an  exact  transcript  of  the 
actual  utterance  of  Jesus.  But  I  do  offer  a  warning 
to  those  who  attempt  to  build  on  particular  words  and 
phrases  rather  than  on  underlying  principles.  Jesus 
Himself  would  have  rested  only  on  the  underlying 
principles,  since  He  never  took  the  trouble  to  write  out 
a  body  of  precepts.  Fortunately  the  great  principles 
of  His  teaching  are  really  determinable,  in  spite  of 
variability  in  the  report. 

Returning,  then,  to  the  threefold  refrain.  "  Hav- 
ing two  hands,  two  feet,  two  eyes,  to  be  cast  into  hell," 
what  shall  we  say  as  to  the  closing  utterance  attached 
in  Mark  9 :  48,  "  Where  their  worm  dieth  not,  and  the 
fire  is  not  quenched  "  ?  Is  not  this  an  endorsement  of 
the  doctrine  of  endless  torment? 

First  of  all  we  note  that  the  clause  is  a  simple  c^uo- 
tation  of  the  last  words  of  Isaiah,  where  the  prophet 
depicts  the  safety  and  peace  of  the  redeemed  city.  Its 
inhabitants  look  forth  with  infinite  relief  and  thankful- 
ness upon  the  heaps  of  offal  and  refuse  swept  out  upon 
the  dunghills  of  the  southwestern  valley,  Gehinnom- — 


204       KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

Aceldama  of  the  later  time.  The  elements  of  evil 
have  met  a  destruction  so  complete  that  they  can  never 
plague  the  city  again.  Jesus  borrows  this  Isaian  im- 
agery of  decay  and  burning  not  for  the  purpose  of 
insisting  upon  the  particular  nature  of  the  doom  that 
is  to  overtake  the  wicked,  but  (as  usual)  to  reinforce 
His  appeal  to  men  to  choose  the  higher  values.  He 
uses  for  this  purpose  the  higher  lights  and  deeper 
shadows  of  the  "  age  to  come."  We  do  injustice  to 
His  real  message  if  we  fail  to  remember  (1)  that  we 
have  no  right  to  insist  upon  the  ipsissima  verba  of  the 
evangelists'  later  reports,  without  carrying  them  back 
to  the  general  underlying  principles  of  Jesus'  teaching; 
(3)  that  we  ought  to  differentiate  between  the  new 
lesson  Jesus  is  trying  to  bring  home,  and  that  which  is 
mere  assumption  by  common  consent  among  all  parties 
at  the  time,  such  as  the  Isaian  picture  of  the  dung- 
heaps  of  Gehinnom  outside  the  new  Jerusalem,  which 
Bthiopic  Enoch  develops  at  great  length.  In  this 
case  the  new  lesson  is  simply  the  futility  of  seeking  to 
save  one's  life  in  this  world  if  thereby  one  loses  it  unto 
life  everlasting.  We  must  remember  (3)  that  Jesus 
as  well  as  Paul  was  an  opponent  of  the  letter  that 
killeth,  and  an  advocate  of  the  Spirit  that  giveth 
life. 

I  have  dwelt  at  some  length  upon  this  particular 
Galilean  teaching  of  Jesus  because  I  believe  it  to  be 
typical  of  all.  It  certainly  affords  a  fair  example  of 
that  misuse  of  the  records  which  I  deprecate,  because 
here  as  much  as  anywhere  men  are  disposed  to  cling  to 
the  husk  and  disregard  the  kernel.  But  I  think  it  is 
also  typical  of  all  because  it  shares  with  the  rest  of 
Jesus'  appeals  to  the  current  eschatology  the  funda- 
mental purpose  of  deepening  the  significance  of  moral 
distinctions  by  indefinitely  enlarging  the  sphere  of  their 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS  205 

application.  "  Reward  in  heaven,"  hopeless  remorse 
in  the  "  outer  darkness."  These  are  not  new  doctrines 
forming  part  of  the  individual  message  of  Jesus. 
They  are  axioms  of  the  faith  in  which  both  He  and 
His  auditors  have  been  brought  up,  but  whose  implica- 
tions His  generation  have  failed  to  fully  realize.' 
Jesus  appreciates  their  full  significance,  because  He 
has  a  sense  of  the  infinite  value  of  human  personality 
which  they  do  not  share.  Their  belief  in  a  resurrec- 
tion, limited  (it  would  seem)  at  first  to  the  supremely 
heroic  and  deserving,  rested,  it  is  true,  historically  upon 
similar  ground.  They  had  come  to  know  "  souls  that 
were  not  born  to  die,"  heroes  and  martyrs  who  had 
given  their  lives  for  God's  Kingdom,  and  could  not  be 
excluded  from  it.  On  this  ground  they  had  begun  to 
cherish  the  new  hope,  but  without  consistent  applica- 
tion. Jesus  applied  the  principle  of  human  worth  con- 
sistently. "  Not  a  sparrow  f alleth  to  the  ground  with- 
out your  Father."  ^  He  clothes  the  lily.  He  feeds 
the  ravens.  Are  not  ye  much  better  than  they? 
Therefore  ask,  and  ye  shall  receive,  seek  and  ye  shall 
find,  knock — knock  even  at  the  gate  of  heaven — and 
the  doors  of  your  Father's  house  shall  be  opened  unto 
you.  Jesus  accepts  and  applies  the  doctrine  of  the 
Pharisees.  But  He  does  not  give  the  endorsement  of 
His  own  authority  to  the  details  of  the  conception,  the 
place  of  torment  for  the  unmerciful,  Abraham's  bosom 
(that  is,  a  reclining-place  next  to  Abraham  on  the 
couch  before  which  the  messianic  banquet  is  spread) 
as  compensation  for  those  that  suffered  here  undeserv- 

'A  century  later  we  find  R.  Jochanan  b.  Zacchai  making 
similar  application  of  the  new  doctrine.     Cf.  Berachoth  28b. 

*Cf.  Simon  b.  Jochai  in  Bereshith  R.  §79,  f.  77,  col.  4.  "No 
bird  falls  from  the  sky  without  the  decree  of  heaven.  How 
much  less  can  danger  beset  the  life  of  a  man  save  by  permission 
of  the  Creator?" 


206        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

edly.  He  uses  these  conceptions  because  as  a  whole 
they  are  in  Hne  with  His  own  consciousness  of  the 
value  of  a  human  soul  in  the  sight  of  the  heavenly 
Father.  But  the  lesson  lies  elsewhere.  The  parable 
of  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus  does  not  teach  anything 
as  to  the  particular  nature  of  reward  and  punishment 
in  the  world  to  come.  It  does  teach  that  what  we  see 
in  this  world  of  the  distribution  of  happiness  and 
wealth  is  not  the  last  word  upon  the  subject.  There  is 
something  more  to  the  divine  justice  than  can  be  in- 
ferred from  earthly  experience.  Whether  Jesus  had 
ever  read  that  great  Alexandrian-Jewish  argument  for 
immortality,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon,  I  cannot  say. 
The  parable  of  the  Rich  Man  and  Lazarus  does  show, 
however,  that  Jesus  would  have  heartily  welcomed  the 
noble  faith  of  this  Alexandrian  poet-philosopher  in  its 
expression  of  the  conviction  that  immortality  is  neces- 
sary not  merely  to  give  room  for  the  real  greatness  of 
finite  moral  beings,  but  also  to  give  room  for  the  ade- 
quate self-expression  of  a  moral  Creator. 


Because  God  created  man  for  immortality, 

And    made    him    an    image    of    His    own    proper 

being  (cf.  H  Cor.  5:5)     .     .     . 
But  the  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hand  of  God, 
And  no  torment  shall  touch  them. 
In  the  eyes  of  the  foolish  they  seemed  to  have  died ; 
And  their  departure  was  accounted  their  hurt, 
And  their  journeying  away  from  us  their  ruin: 
But  they  are  in  peace. 

For  even  if  in  the  sight  of  men  they  be  punished. 
Their  hope  Is  full  of  Immortality : 
And   having  borne   a   little   chastening,    they   shall 

receive  great  good. 
Because  God  made  trial  of  them  and  found  them 

worthy  of  Himself. 
As  gold  In  the  furnace  He  proved  them, 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    207 

And  as  a  whole  burnt-offering  He  accepted  them. 
They  that  trust  on  Him  shall  understand  truth 
And  they  that  keep  faith  in  love  shall  abide  in  His 
presence.''* 


HI.     Jesus'  Teaching  in  Jerusalem 

Thus  far  I  have  spoken  only  of  the  implications  of 
Jesus'  utterances  when  He  and  His  hearers  occupy 
common  ground,  accepting  the  modernist  doctrine  of 
the  time,  the  Pharisean  doctrine  of  return  from  Sheol 
(at  least  for  some  of  the  worthiest  of  its  occupants) 
to  share  in  the  glories  of  the  messianic  age.  We  have 
now  to  consider  the  single  occasion  on  which  we  hear 
of  the  belief  being  challenged.  In  Jerusalem,  as  Jesus 
was  teaching  in  the  temple,  "  there  come  unto  him  Sad- 
ducees,  who  say  that  there  is  no  resurrection." 
Against  the  scoffing  objection  raised  by  these  Jesus  is 
obliged  to  make  good  His  acceptance  of  the  belief  it- 
self. 

The  objection  presupposed  only  the  cruder  form  of 
Pharisean  doctrine,  in  which  the  resurrection  body  was 
assumed  to  have  the  same  substance,  form,  functions, 
and  relation  to  its  environment  as  its  predecessor.  Ac- 
cordingly it  was  not  difficult  to  answer.  From  what 
we  know  of  the  answers  made  at  the  time  to  the  ques- 
tion, "  With  what  body  do  they  come  ?  "  it  is  probable 
that  most  intelligent  Pharisees  would  have  taken  sub- 
stantially the  same  ground  as  Jesus.  He  explains,  you 
remember,  (1)  that  the  life  hereafter  is  the  gift  of  an 
almighty  Creator  v^ho  is  not  limited  to  the  forms  of 
which  we  happen  to  have  had  experience;  (2)  that  the 
angels  are  not  supposed  to  have  families,  and  that  in 

^°  Cf.  Paul's  twice  cited  extract  from  Ass.  Mos.  (so  Euthalius, 
Georgius  Syncellus,  and  a  MS.  of  the  xi.  cent.)  in  Gal.  5  •  ^» 
**  faith  working  through  love  "  the  only  ground  of  acceptance. 


208       KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

the  age  to  come  marriage  may  be  an  obsolete  institu- 
tion." This  is  a  quite  adequate  rebuttal  of  the  crude 
objection.  But  Jesus  does  not  stop  here.  The  sig- 
nificant part  of  the  recorded  saying  follows  after.  It 
is  the  added  rebuke  of  Sadducean  unbelief  from  the 
incident  of  God's  promise  to  Moses  when  He  sent  him 
to  bring  Israel  forth  out  of  Egypt.  This  reveals  the 
real  basis  of  Jesus'  faith,  as  well  as  that  of  His  people. 
It  shows  His  insight  into  the  things  that  belong  unto 
God:  "  But  as  touching  the  dead  that  they  are  raised; 
have  ye  not  read  in  the  book  of  Moses,  in  the  place 
concerning  the  bush,  how  God  spake  unto  him  saying, 
I  am  the  God  of  Abraham,  and  the  God  of  Isaac,  and 
the  God  of  Jacob?  He  is  not  a  God  of  the  dead,  but 
of  the  living:  ye  do  greatly  err."  I  must  dwell  for  a 
few  moments  on  this  great  utterance. 

The  later  evangelist  Luke  attaches  a  clause  taken  in 
substance  from  IV  Maccabees  16:  25,  "  For  they  well 
knew  that  men  dying  for  God  live  unto  God,  as  live 
Abraham  and  Isaac  and  Jacob  and  all  the  patriarchs." 
But  Jesus  was  not  here  appealing  to  the  Alexandrian 
belief  expressed  in  IV  Maccabees  of  a  special,  imme- 
diate resurrection  of  the  martyrs  to  the  abode  of  the 
patriarchs  with  God.  Hence  we  cannot  admit  the 
Lucan  gloss,  "  For  all  live  unto  Him."  Again  those 
modern  interpreters  who  think  that  Jesus  is  inferring 
from  the  use  of  the  present  tense,  "  I  am,"  instead  of 
"  I  was  the  God  of  Abraham  "  are  still  more  wide  of 
the  mark ;  for  there  is  no  verb  at  all  either  in  the  Greek 
or  the  Hebrew.  And  there  surely  would  be,  if  this 
subtle  distinction  of  tense  were  intended.     Both  in  the 

"  Cf.  e.  g.  Ber.  lya  "  In  the  age  to  come  there  is  neither 
eating  nor  drinking,  nor  marrying,  nor  envy  nor  hatred;  but  the 
righteous  repose  with  crowns  on  their  heads  and  are  satisfied 
with  the  glory  of  God"(c£.  Ps.  17:15).  See  also  Bth.  Bnoch, 
51:4. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    209 

original  and  the  quotation  the  utterance  is  simply:  "  I, 
the  God  of  "  the  fathers.  The  copula  must  be  sup- 
plied. Moreover,  we  have  not,  as  even  our  American 
Revisers  render,  "  the  "  God  of  the  dead,  but  "  a  " 
God  of  the  dead.  Jesus  is  contrasting  the  "  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,"  with  such  gods  of  the 
dead  as  Pluto,  Hades,  Rhadamanthus,  Osiris,  etc.  At 
"  the  place  concerning  the  Bush,"  Jehovah,  the  cove- 
nant-keeping God,  had  commissioned  Moses  to  bring 
forth  their  descendants  from  the  house  of  bondage, 
that  they  might  be  a  peculiar  treasure,  a  people  for  an 
own  possession  unto  Him.  Jesus  believes  in  this  prom- 
ise, which  could  only  be  fulfilled  when  Jehovah  reigned 
supreme  in  the  midst  of  His  own  delivered  people. 
And  no  such  redemption  was  possible  unless,  as  in  the 
days  of  redemption  out  of  Egypt,  Jehovah  should 
manifest  the  glory  of  His  strength  by  prevailing  over 
the  gates  of  Sheol.  It  was  because  the  Sadducees 
knew  neither  the  Scriptures  nor  this  *'  power  of  God," 
the  power  shown  in  His  triumph  over  the  powers  of 
the  Underworld  that  they  so  greatly  erred. 

To  appreciate  the  real  ground  of  Jesus'  argument, 
and  how  completely  the  faith  of  Israel  in  His  time  is 
based  on  their  hope  in  God's  promise  of  national  deliv- 
erance, we  must  place  alongside  this  rebuke  of  Sad- 
ducean  materialism  the  ancient  prayer,  second  of  the 
so-called  Eighteen  Blessings.  It  is  among  the  oldest 
of  all,  a  prayer  as  familiar  to  their  ears,  no  doubt,  as 
the  Shema  itself,  the  Credo  of  Israel,  with  which  Jesus 
answered  the  question  of  the  scribe  immediately  after. 
This  well-known  Blessing  of  Jehovah,  second  of  the 
Eighteen,  may  not  actually  have  been  called  The 
Power  of  God,  but  at  all  events  it  celebrates  Jehovah's 
power  in  restoring  the  nation  from  death  to  life  after 
the   Captivity,   and   it  makes   further  appeal  to   His 


210        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

promise  to  the  Patriarchs.  But  we  must  couple  to- 
gether the  first  two  Blessings,  probably  the  oldest  of 
the  Eighteen,  to  bring  out  the  completeness  of  the 
connection  with  Jesus'  reply  to  the  Sadducees: 

( 1 )  "  Blessed  art  thou,  O  Lord,  our  God  and 
the  God  of  our  fathers,  the  God  of  Abraham,  the 
God  of  Isaac,  the  God  of  Jacob,  the  great  God, 
the  mighty  and  tremendous,  the  Most  High  God, 
who  bestowest  gracious  favours  and  createst  all 
things,  and  rememberest  the  piety  of  the  patri- 
archs, and  wilt  bring  a  redeemer  to  their  posterity, 
for  the  sake  of  Thy  name  in  love.  O  King,  who 
bringest  help  and  healing  and  art  a  shield. 

(Response?)     ''Blessed    art   Thou,    O    Lord, 
the  shield  of  Abraham." 

After  this  follows  the  Blessing  for  the  Power  of 
God: 

(2)  "Thou  art  mighty  forever,  O  Lord; 
Thou  restorest  life  to  the  dead,  Thou  art  mighty 
to  save;  who  sustainest  the  living  with  benefi- 
cence, quickenest  the  dead  with  great  mercy,  sup- 
porting the  fallen  and  healing  the  sick,  and  setting 
at  liberty  those  who  are  bound,  and  upholding 
Thy  faithfulness  to  those  that  sleep  in  the  dust. 
Who  is  like  unto  Thee,  Lord,  the  Almighty;  or 
who  can  be  compared  unto  Thee,  O  King,  who 
killest  and  makest  alive  again,  and  causest  help  to 
spring  forth  ?  And  faithful  art  Thou  to  quicken 
the  dead. 

(Response?)     "Blessed    art   Thou,    O    Lord, 
who  restorest  the  dead." 

The  symbolism  for  this  sublime  hymn  of  confidence 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    211 

in  God's  faithfulness  to  His  promise  to  the  patriarchs 
is  taken  from  Ezekiel's  vision  of  the  Valley  of  Dry 
Bones,  from  which  the  broken,  crucified,  dead  nation 
is  raised  up  when  the  wind  from  God  breathes  upon 
them,  and  they  rise  up  an  exceeding  great  army.  In 
the  dark  times  that  had  come  for  Israel  under  an  alien 
yoke  the  figure  had  been  many  times  recalled.  We 
have  in  the  fragments  of  pseudo-Isaian  literature  a 
form  of  it  which  describes  in  poetic  imagery  how 
"  The  Lord  God  descended  to  his  dead  people  that 
slept  in  the  dust  of  the  grave,  that  he  might  proclaim 
unto  them  his  own  salvation.'' "  Paul,  in  Ephesians 
6 :  14,  even  quotes  a  similar  hymn  in  which  God  does 
this  in  the  person  of  the  Messiah:  *'Awake,"  cries  the 
poet  to  despairing  Israel,  "  and  arise  from  the  dead, 
and  the  Christ  shall  shine  forth  upon  thee." 

But  the  essential  point  of  resemblance  between  the 
utterance  of  Jesus  and  the  Blessing  for  the  demon- 
stration of  God's  power  in  restoring  life  to  the  dead, 
is  that  both  rest  upon  His  faithfulness  to  His  promise 
to  the  patriarchs.  God  had  declared  that  He  would 
make  their  descendants  His  '*  people  for  an  own  pos- 
session." In  the  place  concerning  the  Bush  He  de- 
clares to  Moses  that  the  time  has  come.  Now  if  He 
were  '*  a  god  of  the  dead  "  His  "  people  for  an  own 
possession  "  might  be  conceived  as  a  vast  company  of 
shades,  like  the  pitiable  denizens  of  the  empire  of  the 
underworld.  But  neither  Jesus'  contemporaries  nor 
their  forbears  could  tolerate  the  idea  of  Jehovah  as  a 
God  of  tlie  dead.  No  more  than  we  moderns  can  log- 
ically conceive  the  Creator,  whose  very  nature  it  is  to 
give  life  and  breath  to  all  things,  turning  all  back 
again  to  primeval  chaos,  reckless  of  the  values  wrought 

"Quoted  by  Justin  Martyr  (Dial.  Ixxil.)  as  from  "Jeremiah," 
by  Irenseus  (Haer.  Ill,  xx.  4)  as  from  "  Isaiah." 


212        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

out  through  aeons  of  evolution,  an  immutable  Absolute 
enthroned  over  a  lifeless  universe.  Jesus  is  appealing 
to  His  nation's  hope,  the  messianic  Hope,  the  hope  and 
faith  that  God  jneans  something  by  the  vast  vicissi- 
tudes of  history,  and  that  the  faith  of  the  generations 
past  that  sought  the  "  city  that  hath  the  foundations  '' 
is  not  in  the  end  to  be  put  to  shame.  He  takes  the 
nature  of  God  as  a  faithful  Creator,  that  has  not  made 
all  men  in  vain,  as  the  ultimate  ground  of  His  doctrine 
of  immortality.  And  because  our  Christian  faith  is 
rooted  in  this  genuine  national  hope  of  Jesus  and  His 
people  it  can  never  be  merely  a  hope  of  immortality, 
but  must  be  a  hope  of  resurrection.  It  rests  upon  the 
value  of  the  individual  soul  and  of  human  society. 


IV.     The  Effect  of  Calvary 

We  have  considered  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  its  two 
aspects,  first  where  there  is  no  challenge  to  the  com- 
monly accepted  faith,  second  where  He  is  thrown  back 
to  render  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in  Him.  In 
both  cases  we  found  that  the  teaching  of  the  Master  is 
typically  Hebrew.  It  is  exactly  what  we  might  expect 
from  one  thoroughly  grounded  in  the  law  and  the 
prophets.  Indeed  it  scarcely  differs  from  that  of  the 
most  spiritual-minded  of  contemporary  Jewish  teach- 
ers save  in  going  deeper,  and  laying  the  foundation  in 
the  worth  of  man  and  the  goodness  of  God.  Even  the 
details  of  the  picture  coincide  with  current  conceptions, 
though  we  know  from  the  whole  course  of  Jesus' 
teaching  that  He  wished  His  disciples  to  distinguish 
the  weightier  from  the  less  vital,  and  not  to  be  slaves 
of  the  letter. 

But  it  was  not  the  teaching  of  Jesus  which  gave  rise 
to  the  Christian  doctrine  of  immortality.     Paul  never 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    213 

dreams  of  citing  any  word  of  Jesus  in  support  of  his 
doctrine,  though  he  does  once  refer  to  an  unknown 
saying  on  the  Gathering  together  of  the  Elect  (a  fea- 
ture of  Jewish  conceptions  of  the  estabHshment  of  the 
messianic  kingdom),  to  the  effect  that  the  living  would 
have  no  precedence  over  the  dead.  We  should  not  ex- 
pect Paul  to  cite  teachings.  In  the  nature  of  the  case 
no  Apostle  or  witness  to  the  Resurrection  would  think 
of  resorting  to  sayings  of  the  Master  in  exposition  or 
vindication  of  the  accepted  views  of  the  Synagogue, 
when  he  could  point  to  his  own  visions  and  revelations 
of  the  risen  Lord.  Jesus  had  taught  them,  of  course, 
to  think  less  meanly  and  ignobly  than  they  had  pre- 
viously thought  about  the  conditions  of  the  age  to 
come;  but  He  had  brought  life  and  immortality  to 
light  by  the  resurrection  itself.  All  their  highest  mes- 
sianic hopes  were  now  proved  true  since  they  had  seen 
Him  clothed  in  His  resurrection  glory,  and  heard  the 
voice  "  as  of  many  waters  "  proclaiming:  "  Fear  not; 
I  am  the  first  and  the  last,  the  Living  one.  I  was  dead, 
and  behold  I  am  alive  forevermore,  and  hold  the  keys 
of  death  and  of  Hades."  It  is  the  story  of  Calvary 
which  made  the  Christian  religion.  The  teachings  of 
Jesus  were  gathered  up  afterward  as  a  precious  treas- 
ure of  which  they  had  at  first  not  realized  the  value. 
Pastors  and  teachers  turn  them  to  account  when 
the  churches  begin  to  feel  the  need  of  admonition, 
training  and  discipline  in  the  way  of  righteousness; 
but  the  Apostles  were  "  witnesses  of  the  resurrec- 
tion." 

However,  there  is  a  sense  in  which  we  may  say  that 
the  teaching  of  Jesus  (though  not  the  public  teaching) 
was  itself  the  origin  of  this  faith  in  His  resurrection. 
I  do  not  mean  the  forewarnings  of  His  fate  which  the 
evangelists   relate   as  preceding  the   last  journey  to 


214        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

Jerusalem.  Whatever  the  degree  of  definiteness  with 
which  Jesus  then  placed  before  them  His  own  assur- 
ance of  victory  even  through  death,  we  know  that  they 
disregarded  it  and  only  recalled  it  afterward,  when  they 
had  become  convinced  by  other  means  that  He  had 
been  raised  again  from  the  dead.  It  was  another  ut- 
terance which  made  it  possible  for  them  to  receive  the 
Easter  message.  What  I  refer  to  is  a  much  more  in- 
timate and  more  unmistakable  utterance  than  any  of 
these  warnings  on  the  way  to  Jerusalem,  a  saying  given 
under  such  circumstances  that  the  disciples  neither  did 
nor  could  disregard  it. 

We  know  that  Jesus'  farewell  utterance  in  the  upper 
room,  declaring  that  His  body  was  broken.  His  blood 
poured  out  for  the  disciples'  sakes,  and  "  making  cov- 
enant "  with  them  in  His  blood,  that  they  should  eat 
and  drink  with  Him  at  His  table  in  His  Kingdom,  was 
neither  forgotten  nor  disregarded.  For,  as  Paul  tells 
us,  the  breaking  of  the  bread  was  observed  as  a  me- 
morial rite  ''  from  the  Lord  himself."  The  very  fact 
that  the  words  were  thus  reinforced  by  symbolic  act 
was  a  guarantee  that  though  heaven  and  earth  should 
pass  away  this  farewell  message  at  least  should  not 
pass  away,  but  should  testify  the  Lord's  own  faith 
'*  till  he  come." 

It  is  hardly  possible  for  us  to  say  what  effect  reports 
of  visions  and  revelations  of  the  risen  Lord  might  have 
had  on  the  minds  of  disciples  destitute  of  any  prepara- 
tion in  His  own  words  for  a  belief  in  His  resurrection. 
Yet  experience  would  seem  to  indicate,  if  indeed  the 
references  to  His  being  recognized  *'  in  the  breaking 
of  the  bread,"  and  similar  reawakenings  of  past  im- 
pressions in  the  Gospels  do  not  suggest  it,  that  without 
some  such  preparatory  nucleus  personal  visions  might 
not  have  been  experienced,   and   reports   of  visions 


IMMORTALITY  IK  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    215 

granted  to  others  would  scarcely  have  found  accept- 
ance. There  is,  then,  a  sense  in  which  we  may  say 
that  it  was  the  private  teaching  of  Jesus  Himself  which 
gave  rise  to  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  resurrection. 
If  we  hold  that  only  hearts  made  ready  could  have  had 
the  experience  we  might  almost  say  it  was  this  doc- 
trine which  produced  the  resurrection  visions,  rather 
than  the  visions  which  produced  the  Christian  doc- 
trine. 

But  what  was  this  doctrine,  or  belief,  to  which  Jesus 
appealed  when  He  declared  that  His  body  and  blood 
were  "  given  "  for  His  followers'  sake,  when  He  made 
tryst  with  them  at  the  messianic  banquet?  Was  it 
simply  the  current  Pharisean  teaching  referred  to  by 
the  sisters  in  the  story  of  Lazarus,  when  Martha  says 
with  more  of  resignation  than  of  hope,  ''  I  know  that 
my  brother  shall  rise  again  in  the  resurrection  at  the 
last  day  "  ?  If  so,  there  can  have  been  but  little  con- 
nection between  the  belief  and  the  acceptance  of  the 
Easter  message.  The  broken  bread  would  have  be- 
tokened only  a  very  remote  comfort. 

But  there  is  reason  to  think  that  quite  a  different  be- 
lief is  here  made  use  of,  a  behef  which  looked  for  no 
prolonged  sojourn  in  the  treasury  of  righteous  souls,  or 
other  place  of  preliminary  safe-keeping  until  "  the  last 
day,"  but  for  immediate  restoration  to  life  and  activ- 
ity; a  belief  which  concerned  not  the  generality,  but 
only  those  who  "  died  on  God's  account,"  who  when 
escape  was  offered  them  chose  rather  the  way  of  mar- 
tyrdom; a  belief,  in  short,  of  an  immediate  "first 
resurrection,"  given  to  those  who  had  willingly  dedi- 
cated themselves  in  martyrdom  "  on  God's  account." 
For,  according  to  IV  Maccabees  17: 18,  those  who  thus 
dedicated  themselves  "  are  already  standing  before  the 
throne  of  God,  and  are  living  the  blessed  life;   for 


216        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

Moses  also  saith,  'AH  who  have  sanctified  themselves  " 
are  underneath  thy  hands.'  "  It  is  true  that  the  clause 
we  have  just  quoted  comes  from  an  Alexandrian- Jew- 
ish writing  of  marked  affinities  with  Platonism.  Even 
II  Maccabees,  where  a  similar  doctrine  is  expressed  at 
an  earlier  date,  is  also  probably  Alexandrian,  though 
the  resurrection  of  the  martyrs  is  here  in  bodily 
form.  But  both  books  were  written  to  promote  the 
observance  of  the  feast  of  Dedication  of  the  temple, 
a  Palestinian  feast.  Both  continue  the  thought  of  res- 
urrection as  we  have  it  in  Daniel,  a  Palestinian  apoca- 
lypse of  ca.  165  B.  c,  as  a  special  intervention  of  God 
in  behalf  of  exceptional  heroes;  and  both  stand  mid- 
way between  this  and  the  New  Testament  Apocalypse, 
with  its  special  ''  first  resurrection  "  of  the  martyrs, 
and  its  representation  of  them  as  ''  underneath  the 
altar,"  interceding  there  on  behalf  of  their  people. 
The  words  of  the  second  martyr  in  II  Maccabees  7:9: 
''  The  King  of  the  world  shall  raise  up  us  who  have 
died  for  his  laws,  unto  an  eternal  renewal  of  life  " 
might  easily  have  been  uttered  by  a  Palestinian  martyr 
of  Jesus'  time.  Those  of  the  last  of  the  seven  in  verse 
36:  "  These  our  brethren  having  endured  a  short  pain 
have  now  drunk  of  everflowing  life  under  a  covenant 
with  God "  would  sound  no  unaccustomed  accent. 
When  the  youthful  martyr  concludes:  "  But  I,  as  my 
brethren,  give  up  both  body  and  soul  for  the  laws  of 
our  fathers,  calling  upon  God  that  He  may  speedily 
become  gracious  to  the  nation,"  he  at  least  helps  us 
realize  how  those  who  sat  with  Jesus  at  the  farewell 
Supper  must  have  understood  His  words  when  He 
said:  **  This  bread  is  my  body  that  is  given  for  you, 

"  'HyuKTiiivin  cf.  John  17:19:  "for  their  sakes  I  sanctify 
{ayidZio,  i.  e.  dedicate)  myself."  The  citation  is  from  Deut. 
33 :  3- 


IMMOETALITT  IN  THE  SYI^OPTIC  GOSPELS    217 

this  cup  is  the  new  covenant  in  my  blood  that  is  shed 
for  the  many.  Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me." 
They  did  not  need  to  be  told  what  it  meant  that  one 
who  for  the  Kingdom's  sake  had  refused  escape  when 
it  was  open  to  Him  should  dedicate  His  body  and 
blood  in  martyrdom  that  God  might  be  propitious  to 
His  people  and  forgive  their  sin.  They  were  not  un- 
familiar with  the  hope  of  joyful  reunion  to  which  the 
mother  of  the  seven  martyrs  looks  forward,  and  which 
Jesus  holds  before  the  twelve  when  He  covenants  with 
them  that  they  shall  drink  the  wine  of  the  redemption 
feast  new  with  Him  in  His  kingdom.  We  have  as 
yet  no  definite  proof  that  they  accepted  the  idea  current 
in  Alexandrian  Judaism  at  about  this  time,  that  such 
dedicated  souls  pass  at  once  into  the  very  presence  of 
God,  to  "  live  even  now  the  blessed  life,"  and  to  inter- 
cede "  before  the  throne  of  God "  for  His  people. 
But  we  have  some  indications  that  such  a  belief  was 
not  distinctive  of  Alexandrian  Judaism  alone,  but  be- 
longed to  all  sections  of  popular  Judaism,  however  the 
later  conflict  with  Christianity  may  have  tended  to 
procure  its  obliteration  from  the  records  of  the  official 
Judaism  of  the  Synagogue. 

It  is  no  less  an  authority  than  the  great  historian 
Tacitus  "  who  gives  it  as  a  Jewish  belief  that  "  the 
souls  of  those  who  perish  in  battle,  or  by  the  execu- 
tioner, are  eternal."  This  special  immortality  for 
heroes  and  martyrs  rests,  of  course,  upon  the  case  of 
Eleazar,  the  Arnold  Winkelried  of  Jewish  history, 
who,  according  to  I  Maccabees  6:  44,  "  gave  himself  to 
deliver  his  people  "  in  the  battle  against  Antiochus,  and 
the  other  Maccabean  martyrs,  who  perished  as  Second 
and  Fourth  Maccabees  relate,  at  the  hands  of  the  exe- 
cutioner. Tacitus  could  very  well  know  of  this  pecu- 
''Hist.  V.  iff. 


218       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

liar  form  of  the  belief  in  immortality,  because  there 
was  not  only  a  great  annual  Jewish  feast  at  winter 
solstice  but  even  the  beginnings  of  a  literature,  in  cele- 
bration of  the  Maccabean  heroes  and  martyrs.  In  fes- 
tival and  literature  alike  resurrection  was  the  central 
theme. 

The  very  Talmud  itself,  purged  as  it  is  of  everything 
that  could  be  suspected  of  favouring  Christianity,  fur- 
nishes unwilling  witness  to  this  doctrinal  fruit  of  the 
heroic  struggle  of  the  Maccabean  times.     In  Jewish 
literature  of  the  times  contemporary  with  and  imme- 
diately following  the  age  of  Jesus  we  have  many  refer- 
ences to   a  widespread  belief   in  the   assumption  to 
heaven  of  two  individuals  corresponding  to  the  ''  two 
sons  of  oil"  (R.  V.  "anointed  ones")  whom  Zecha- 
riah  sees  in  vision  **  standing  in  the  presence  of  the 
Lord  of  the  whole  earth  "  and  supplying  with  oil  the 
lamp  of  remembrance  of  Israel  that  stands  ever-burn- 
ing before  Jehovah."     In  Revelation  11:  3-13  these 
are  called  the  "two  witnesses"   (or  "martyrs")  of 
God,  and  are  unmistakably  identified  with  Moses  and 
Elijah.     It  is  their  function  to  descend  from  heaven 
before  the  great  and  terrible  Day  of  Jehovah  to  effect 
the  Great  Repentance,  which,  according  to  Malachi 
4:  4-6,  is  to  precede  the  messianic  judgment  and  re- 
newal of  the  world.     When  they  shall  have  finished 
their  "  prophecy,"  and  the  "  martyrdom  "  which  will 
be  inflicted  on  them  in  Jerusalem  by  the  agents  of  the 
Beast  "  the  breath  of  life  from  God  "  will  again  enter 
into  them,  and  they  will  again  be  taken  up  into  heaven 
in  a  cloud  in  obedience  to  "  a  great  voice  from  heaven  " 
which  says  "  Come  up  hither."    It  is  well  known  that 
our  Gospels  also  furnish  many  traces  of  this  expecta- 
tion of  the  second  coming  of  Elijah,  and  not  a  few  of 
«Cf.  Isa.  62:6f. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS  219 

the  return  with  him  of  Moses,  to  whose  supposed  tak- 
ing up  into  heaven  a  whole  book  called  The  Assump- 
tion of  Moses  was  devoted,  of  which  some  fragments 
are  still  extant.  Those  who  are  interested  in  the  study 
can  trace  much  of  the  long  history  of  this  Jewish  belief 
in  "The  Two  Witnesses  of  Messiah"  in  Bousset's 
well-known  work  entitled  The  Legend  of  Antichrist. 
The  special  point  of  present  interest  is  simply  the 
ground  on  which  the  figure  of  Moses  comes  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  Elias  in  the  heavenly  mission  to  prepare 
for  the  messianic  Judgment. 

In  less  orthodox  sources  outside  the  Canon  the  asso- 
ciate of  Elias  in  the  role  of  "the  Lord's  remem- 
brancers "  seen  by  Zechariah  is  Enoch,  who  like  Elias 
had  "  never  tasted  death  "  but  had  been  "  taken  up  " 
alive  into  heaven.  Enoch,  whom  even  angels  entreat 
to  intercede  for  them  with  the  Heavenly  Judge  {Eth. 
Enoch  xiii,  4),  was  an  obvious  surrogate.  But  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  apparently  in  orthodox  Jewish 
circles  as  well,  it  is  not  Enoch  but  Moses  who  plays 
this  extraordinary  part.  Nor  can  it  be  accounted  for 
by  the  currency  of  any  legend  regarding  Moses  similar 
to  the  story  of  the  translation  of  Enoch  and  Elijah,  for 
the  story  of  the  death  and  burial  of  Moses  in  Deuter- 
onomy 34:  1-8  does  not  easily  lend  itself  to  such  leg- 
endary development.  On  the  contrary  the  legend 
which  we  know  to  have  been  current  was  the  out- 
growth of  the  belief,  not  the  belief  of  the  legend 
Moses,  as  we  know  from  a  host  of  Talmudic  passages, 
was  looked  to  as  the  great  Intercessor  for  Israel  with 
God,  because  at  Horeb  he  had  obtained  the  forgiveness 
of  Israel's  sin  by  the  power  of  his  "  atonement  "  (Ex. 
32:  30-32).  The  Talmudic  comment  upon  this  pas- 
sage {Deharim  R.  Ill,  255b)  relates  that  after  Moses 
had  prayed  "  Forgive  now  their  sin,  or  else,  blot  me,  I 


220        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

pray  thee,  out  of  thy  book  (of  Hfe)  which  thou  hast 
written"  God  answered  him:  "Because  thou  didst 
offer  thy  life  for  Israel  in  this  world,  so  shall  it  be 
again  in  the  world  to  come.  When  I  shall  send  Elias 
to  my  people  thou  shalt  appear  together  with  him." 
As  EHas,  who  at  Carmel  had  been  Jehovah's  agent  to 
"  turn  the  heart  of  Israel  back  again  "  to  Himself,  be- 
comes in  the  last  days  His  agent  to  effect  the  Great 
Repentance,  so  Moses  who  "  offered  his  life  "  to  make 
atonement  for  their  sin  becomes  the  partner  of  EHas 
in  the  work  of  the  final  Reconciliation. 

With  these  almost  forgotten  elements  of  contempo- 
rary Jewish  faith  in  mind  it  will  be  easier  for  us  to 
appreciate  that  the  resurrection  faith  of  the  first  Chris- 
tian believers  was  something  quite  beyond  the  ordinary 
expectation  of  rising  again  "  in  the  last  day,"  and  more 
like  the  belief  that  spread  at  once  in  Galilee  after  the 
martyrdom  of  the  Baptist,  when  they  began  to  say  of 
John,  "  This  is  EHas  that  should  come,"  or  "  John, 
whom  Herod  beheaded,  is  risen  again."  The  new 
resurrection  faith  of  the  followers  of  the  Crucified  was 
not  the  mere  conventional  belief  of  the  Synagogue  in 
which  they  had  been  brought  up.  It  was  not  the  mere 
rising  again  in  the  last  Day,  but  went  back  to  the  deep- 
lying  root  from  which  that  now  conventionalized  faith 
had  sprung,  the  special  resurrection  for  heroes  and 
martyrs,  who  had  "  offered  their  lives  "  for  the  re- 
demption of  God's  people. 

The  nature  of  the  appearances  which  the  earliest 
records  describe  confirm  this  view  of  the  origins  of  our 
Christian  resurrection  faith.  The  "  visions  and  reve- 
lations of  the  Lord  "  of  which  we  hear  were  not  visita- 
tions in  the  night  of  some  poor  bloodless  ghost,  wan- 
dering from  the  abode  of  shades;  nor  do  the  witnesses 
describe   a   mutilated   corpse   galvanized    into    a    few 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    221 

weeks  of  forced  reanimation.  Such  conceptions  may 
be  left  to  an  obsolete  rationalism  or  to  fiction  writers 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  The  appearances  that  sent 
the  new  faith  on  its  victorious  way  were  not  of  one 
issuing  from  the  nether  world  or  from  the  tomb. 
What  we  have  of  stories  of  this  type  is  of  later  date. 
They  concern  themselves  with  the  secondary  question 
of  debate  ignored  by  Paul,  as  to  what  became  of  the 
buried  body.  He  whom  the  disciples  saw  came  from 
heaven,  clothed  in  the  glory  of  God,  bearing  in  triumph 
the  keys  of  death  and  of  Hell.  The  radiance  of  His 
form  outshone  the  noonday  sun,  and  His  voice  was 
"  as  the  sound  of  many  waters.'*  The  wounds  of  His 
martyrdom  were  there,  for  by  these  He  made  interces- 
sion for  the  saints  before  the  eternal  Judge.  They 
saw  Him  as  a  new  Passover  Lamb  "  in  the  midst  of 
the  throne,'*  standing  "  as  it  had  been  slain  " ;  and  they 
looked  for  reunion  w^ith  Him  at  the  wedding  feast  of 
the  eternal  redemption.  The  witnesses  of  the  resur- 
rection saw  what  they  were  prepared  to  see.  But  the 
preparation  was  that  of  the  parting  feast  below,  re- 
newed as  the  Memorial  of  Jesus'  "  covenant  of  life 
from  week  to  week  and  from  year  to  year  *'  until  he 
should  come  again."  I  say,  then,  that  the  experience 
of  Calvary  introduced  a  new  factor  into  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  immortality. 

V.     Further  Development 

In  speaking  of  the  Teaching  of  Jesus  in  both  its  as- 
pects, and  of  the  Effect  of  Calvary  I  have  not  ex- 
hausted the  information  to  be  drawn  from  the 
Synoptic  writings  alone  on  the  question  of  the  further 
development  of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  the  Resur- 

^®  II  Mace.  7 :  36. 


222       EELIGION  AOT)  THE  FUTTJEE  LIFE 

rection.  These  writings  in  their  present  form  are  not 
mere  records  of  transactions  of  the  generation  already 
past  when  they  first  saw  the  Hght.  By  the  most  an- 
cient tradition  and  by  internal  evidence  as  well  they 
are  documents  of  the  post-apostolic  age.  Their  un- 
derlying material  is  translated  from  older  Aramaic  rec- 
ords and  gives  us  trustworthy  report  of  the  teaching 
and  life  of  Jesus  in  its  main  outline  and  substance. 
But  not  without  evidences  of  the  intervening  time  of 
discussion  and  interpretation  as  well.  During  the  life- 
time of  Paul,  as  we  know,  the  air  was  full  of  debate 
as  to  the  nature  and  implications  of  this  new-found 
faith.  If  already  in  Judaism  the  doctrine  of  return 
from  the  grave  had  precipitated  conflicts  as  to  the  con- 
ditions and  environment  of  that  life  of  the  ''  age  to 
come,"  if  Alexandrian  and  Palestinian  Judaism  were 
already  at  odds  as  to  whether  when  we  die  our  souls 
are  taken  to  heaven,  or  whether  our  souls  return  from 
Sheol  to  the  surface  of  the  earth,  how  much  more 
when  the  resurrection  doctrine  in  Christian  form  came 
directly  in  contact  with  the  Greek  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality. The  question  "With  what  body  do  they 
come?  "  IS  one  of  those  which  no  teacher  in  the  days  of 
Paul  could  possibly  avoid,  least  of  all  Paul  himself. 
Fortunately  a  discussion  of  this  subject  will  be  given 
in  the  present  series  by  a  scholar  of  ample  qualifications. 
You  will  have  opportunity  to  perceive  how  Paul  accom- 
modates his  own  conception  of  resurrection  and  the  life 
of  the  age  to  come,  a  conception  based  indeed  upon 
Pharisean  teaching  but  in  everything  conformed  to  his 
personal  vision  of  the  risen  Christ,  to  Greek  ideas  of 
immortality.  The  essence  of  it  is  what  he  designates 
"  transfiguration  "  {fieTafiop<po6[ieea)^  or  "  conforma- 
tion "  of  the  body  of  humiliation  into  the  like- 
ness of  the  "body  of  glory"  of  the  risen  Christ, 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  SYNOPTIC  GOSPELS    223 

because  in  the  nature  of  the  case  "  flesh  and  blood  can- 
not inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  neither  doth  corruption 
inherit  incorruption."  This  is  his  answer  to  those 
who  ask  "  With  what  body  do  they  come  ?  "  The 
"  tabernacle  "  of  perishable  flesh  must  "  put  on  "  the 
imperishable  "  building "  of  God  reserved  for  each 
believer  eternally  ''  in  heaven.'*  It  is  an  adjustment, 
or  compromise,  between  the  extremes  of  a  Greek  doc- 
trine of  bodiless  immortality  in  heaven,  and  a  Jewish 
doctrine  of  return  to  fleshly  existence  upon  earth.  As 
we  shall  see,  it  was  more  than  a  century  before  the  two 
elements  in  the  church  came  to  even  partial  agreement 
on  this  question ;  and  then  they  compromised  on  a  doc- 
trine more  Jewish  than  Pauline.  But  our  own  enquiry 
passes  over  the  Pauline  period  of  debate.  We  are  to 
resume  at  the  beginning  of  the  post-apostolic  age,  an 
age  in  which  Church  teachers  on  both  sides,  Jewish- 
Christian  and  Hellenistic  or  Alexandrian,  are  doing 
their  best  to  meet  the  same  questions  as  Paul.  They 
use  largely  the  same  ideas  as  Paul,  and  to  some  extent 
even  the  same  phraseology.  The  story  of  the  Trans- 
figuration, which  teaches  the  reluctant  twelve  that  the 
true  goal  of  the  Christ  is  to  lead  the  way  to  the  glorious 
mode  of  existence  of  "  the  men  who  had  been  taken 
up  "  "  not  to  abide  on  the  earth  provided  with  perish- 
able "  tabernacles,"  is  an  example  of  interpretation  by 
apocalyptic  imagery  of  the  inward  significance  of  the 
doctrine  of  a  suffering  Christ.  It  is  what  the  Syna- 
gogue would  call  a  "midrash"  on  the  story  of  the 
Confession  of  Peter  to  which  it  is  attached  in  Mark 
9 :  2-10.     This  represents  Jewish-Christian  incorpora- 

"  So  Moses  and  Elias  are  designated  in  II  Esdr.  6 :  26.  In 
contemporary  Jewish  and  early  Christian  apocalypse  the}^  are 
the  "two  witnesses"  of  Messiah,  or  "advance  patterns  of  im- 
mortality" (Irenseus,  Haer.  V,  v.  i)  having  been  already  trans- 
figured into  the  glory-body. 


224        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

tion  of  Pauline  teaching,  in  the  secondary  strata  of 
Synoptic  tradition.  Over  against  it,  in  the  great 
PauHne  Gospel  given  out  at  Ephesus,  the  headquarters 
of  the  Pauline  mission  field,  toward  the  close  of  the 
first  century  or  beginning  of  the  second,  the  so-called 
Gospel  of  John,  we  have  a  different  combination  of  the 
same  two  elements.  In  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  writer 
has  made  the  entire  history  of  Jesus  one  comprehensive 
Transfiguration  story,  going  back  through  Mark  not 
to  Peter  but  to  Paul,  the  Apostle  of  a  ''  Christ  not 
after  the  flesh."  But  of  these  post-Pauline  develop- 
ments I  have  no  time  to  speak  now.  They  must  be 
reserved  for  treatment  in  another  Lecture  on  "  The 
Johannine  Doctrine  of  Immortality." 


IX 

PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH 
Frank  Chamberlin  Porter 

THE  apostle  Paul  was  certainly  one  of  the  very 
greatest  of  those  who  through  the  ages  have 
believed  in  a  future  life  for  man.  One  nat- 
urally thinks  of  him,  among  ancients,  by  the  side  of 
Plato.  Is  there  indeed  a  third  who  can  be  put  with 
these  two  for  the  quality  and  value  of  their  testimony 
and  the  extent  and  permanence  of  its  Influence  upon 
mankind?  We  naturally  ask  them  both,  not  with 
curiosity  but  with  reverence,  why  they  held  this  belief, 
how  they  conceived  of  life  beyond  death,  of  its  nature 
and  of  the  conditions  upon  which  men  can  hope  to 
attain  it.  They  differ  widely  and  even  radically  in 
their  grounds  and  in  their  conceptions.  Plato's  doc- 
trine was  the  immortality  of  the  soul  In  contrast  to  the 
body.  Paul  argues  in  direct  opposition  to  this  for  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  although  he  opposes  also  the 
current  Jewish  conception  that  flesh  and  blood  can  in- 
herit the  kingdom  of  God,  and  must  add  the  word 
"  spiritual "  in  order  to  make  the  Idea  of  resurrection 
correspond  to  his  experience  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.  The  grounds  of  all  of  Plato's  arguments  are 
found  In  the  nature  of  the  soul;  the  one  ground  of 
Paul's  assurance  is  the  historical  fact  of  Jesus  Christ, 
His  death  and  resurrection,  and  the  experience  already 
in  part  present,  though  also  a  matter  of  hope,  of  the 

225 


226        EELIGION  AKD  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

dying  and  rising  of  Christians  with  Him.     Whether 
this  difference  precludes  any  real  relationship  between 
the  testimony  of  Paul  and  that  of  Plato  is  one  of  the 
questions  which  the  study  of  Paul's  thought  naturally 
suggests.     For  the  present  it  is  enough  to  point  out  a 
likeness  between  the  two  which  is  important  for  the 
understanding  of  both.     In  both  it  is  possible  to  trace 
a  change,  perhaps  a  development,  from  writings  of 
earlier  to  those  of  later  periods.     But  of  both  it  is 
certainly  true  that  the  fact  of  their  hope,  the  persist- 
ence and  assurance  with  which  they  held  to  it,  is  of 
more  value  to  us  than  the  arguments  by  which  they 
defended  it  or  the  terms  in  which  they  defined  it.     We 
desire  proof  in  this  matter,  and  sometimes  seek  it  in 
dubious  ways,  through  some  sort  of  evidence  of  the 
senses,  or  some  supernatural  phenomenon  that  forces 
our  doubts  back  and  enables  us  to  rest  our  faith  on 
authority.     But  for  most  of  us  the  age  of  authority 
in  that  sense  is  past.     If  we  are  to  have  convictions 
about  the  unseen  world  and  the  unknown  future  we 
cannot  accept  them  on  the  bare  testimony  of  those 
who  claim  to  have  seen  what  lies  beyond  the  percep- 
tion of  common  men,  or  to  have  been  in  regions  in- 
accessible to  others.     Even  for  our  hope  in  life  after 
death  we  must  find  grounds  in  human  nature  and 
points  of  contact  in  our  own  experience  if  we  are  to 
justify  belief.    We  must  look  within,  not  without,  for 
our  evidence.     Confirmation,  indeed,  can  come  from 
without ;  and  the  greatest  confirmation,  the  best  aid  to 
faith,  is  the  experience  and  testimony  of  men  of  the 
highest  intellectual  and  spiritual  quality.     Human  na- 
ture and  human  experience  at  their  highest  and  best 
reveal  our  own  natures  to  us,  create  in  us  like  experi- 
ences, and  confirm  our  trust  in  our  best  hopes  and 
deepest  insights.    The  language  and  methods  of  argu- 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    227 

ment  of  Plato  and  of  Paul  belong  of  necessity  to  their 
own  times.  What  is  of  greatest  and  most  permanent 
significance  is  the  fact  that  these  two  men,  represent- 
ing at  the  very  highest  the  intellectual  and  ethical  great- 
ness of  the  two  races  and  cultures  that  are  the  main 
sources  of  our  own  spiritual  life,  agree  in  the  intensity 
of  their  interest  and  in  the  persistence  of  their  belief 
in  the  immortality  of  man. 

Matthew  Arnold  truly  said  that  we  shall  always 
need  the  Old  Testament  because  we  shall  always  need 
the  enthusiasm  of  Israel's  conviction  that  the  power 
not  ourselves  makes  for  righteousness,  and  that  to 
righteousness  belongs  blessedness.  The  Old  Testa- 
ment has  not  many  arguments  for  theism,  and  meets 
few  of  the  difficulties  to  faith  in  one  God  by  convinc- 
ing proofs;  but  the  prophets  and  poets  of  Israel  were 
great  spirits,  and  their  hold  upon  God  was  living  and 
confident.  God  was  their  light  and  joy  and  strength; 
and  they  are  themselves  our  greatest  help  to  faith,  as 
their  inner  life  expresses  and  imparts  itself  in  words 
that  glow  with  joy  in  God  and  love  for  Him.  In  some 
such  way  Paul's  witness  to  the  hope  of  life  after  death 
makes  its  appeal.  His  are  the  words  we  like  to  read 
in  the  presence  of  death ;  and  we  read  them  not  for 
the  arguments  they  contain  nor  for  the  details  they  set 
forth  but  for  the  enthusiasm  of  their  confidence,  for 
their  emotional  quality  and  appeal.  We  need  and  shall 
continue  to  need  for  our  faith  in  immortality  the  en- 
thusiasm of  Paul's  conviction  that  even  death  cannot 
separate  us  from  the  love  of  God.  Everything  that 
Paul  says  about  life  after  death  is  touched  with  emo- 
tion; and  the  fact  that  he  was  a  very  great  man  of 
religion,  a  great  Christian,  gives  to  the  confidence  and 
enthusiasm  of  his  hope  the  right  to  be  contagious  and 
reassuring. 


228        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

We  have  our  own  questions  that  we  should  like  to 
ask  of  so  great  a  man  who  has  so  sure  a  confidence ; 
and  there  are  other  questions  which  as  historical  stu- 
dents we  are  obliged  to  ask.  For  ourselves  I  think 
there  are  especially  three  matters  about  which  we  want 
to  know  the  normal  attitude  of  the  human  mind,  the 
reaction  natural  to  the  mind  at  its  best.  First,  does 
preexistence  in  any  sense  underlie  man's  survival  of 
death?  To  Plato,  and  perhaps  we  may  say  to  the 
Greek  mind  in  general,  preexistence  corresponds  to 
immortality,  and  is  surer,  as  being  a  thing  experienced, 
than  that  which  is  still  future.  Second,  is  it  the  self- 
conscious  personality  that  survives,  or  does  immortal- 
ity mean  a  return  to  our  source  in  the  divine  nature, 
or  a  re-absorption  in  the  race  or  in  the  universe? 
Third,  what  is  there  in  present  experience  that  an- 
ticipates the  future  and  justifies  us  in  saying  that  the 
ground  for  our  hope  lies  within  and  not  in  a  purely 
outward  revelation?  We  shall  not  be  disappointed  in 
the  expectation  that  Paul  throws  light  directly  or  by 
implication  on  these  problems  of  our  own. 

It  is  of  course  to  be  freely  recognized  that  we  shall 
not  understand  the  language  of  Paul  about  this  or  any 
other  matter  unless  we  read  it  in  the  light  of  the  ideas 
of  his  inheritance  and  environment.  This  is  so  fully 
recognized  now  that  I  am  more  anxious  to  urge  sym- 
pathetic response  to  that  emotional  quality  in  Paul's 
language  to  which  I  have  referred,  and  to  avoid  the 
danger  of  forgetting  that  poetic  and  prophetic  speech 
is  not  bound  too  closely  to  the  letter. 

From  the  Old  Testament  Paul  may  have  derived 
some  fundamentals  of  his  faith  in  the  future,  in  spite 
of  the  fact  that  the  Old  Testament  is  almost  entirely 
concerned  with  the  present  life.  The  conception  of 
Sheol  never  became  a  starting  point  for  hope  but  re- 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH     229 

mained  wholly  negative,  the  very  embodiment  of  hope- 
lessness. It  was  just  so  with  the  Greek  Hades.  The 
element  of  hope  in  the  Old  Testament  religion  centers 
in  the  nation,  and  is  the  expectation  of  Israel's  inde- 
pendence and  rulership  over  mankind.  It  is  neces- 
sarily, therefore,  a  hope  for  the  present  world;  and 
when  at  the  end  of  the  Old  Testament  period  the  claim 
of  the  individual  made  itself  felt,  this  could  only  take 
the  form  of  the  hope  of  resurrection,  the  return  of 
the  dead  to  a  fully  human  life  on  earth  and  a  share  in 
the  glory  of  the  nation.  That  resurrection  rather  than 
immortality  of  the  soul  should  remain  natural  to  He- 
brew thinking  rests  also  on  the  fact  that  the  Hebrew 
conception  of  the  nature  of  man  did  not  allow  the 
idea  that  the  soul  could  live  apart  from  the  body. 
Before  Paul's  time,  however,  some  Jews  had  developed 
the  conception  that  men  would  rise  with  angelic  rather 
than  earthly  natures,  their  bodies  being  fashioned  of 
light  or  glory,  a  conception  of  which  perhaps  the  most 
natural  image  was  given  to  the  senses  by  the  starry 
heavens.  Paul's  conception  of  the  spiritual  body  has 
therefore  some  connection  with  earlier  Jewish  thought 
which  developed  as  a  part  of  a  more  heavenly  concep- 
tion of  the  Messianic  consummation."  Because  of  the 
cases  of  Enoch  and  Elijah,  an  Israelite  would  be  pre- 
pared for  the  possibility  that  God  might  take  men  to 
Himself  without  death ;  but  such  translation  remained 
wholly  exceptional. 

Another  important  Old  Testament  point  of  connec- 
tion for  Paul's  thought  is  found  in  the  word  "  spirit." 
The  spirit  of  God  is  the  divine  breath  that  gives  man 
life.  It  is  always  a  divine  element  in  man.  When  God 
takes  it  back  to  Himself  the  body  returns  to  dust  and 
the  man  dies ;  "  In  that  very  day  his  thoughts  perish  " 
^See  Dan.  12:3,  and  especially  Apoc.  of  Baruch,  50-51. 


230       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

(Psa.  146:4).  When  we  read,  "and  the  dust  re- 
turneth  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and  the  spirit  returneth 
unto  God  who  gave  it "  (Eccles.  12:  7),  this  does  not 
mean  immortaUty,  for  the  spirit  is  not  the  man  him- 
self. Nevertheless  when  Jews  under  Greek  influence 
came  in  touch  with  the  idea  of  the  immortality  of  the 
soul  they  found  it  more  natural  to  connect  personality 
with  this  spirit  which  comes  from  God  and  returns  to 
God  than  to  think  of  the  soul  (nephesh),  which  was 
to  them  simply  the  living  man,  the  man  himself,  as 
surviving  death. 

Still  another  foundation  for  belief  in  life  after  death 
in  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  most  vital  of  all,  was 
the  experience  of  living  communion  with  God,  which 
seems  to  become  first  fully  conscious  of  itself  in  Jere- 
miah, and  finds  wonderful  expression  in  some  of  the 
Psalms.  It  is  remarkable  that  this  experience  could 
be  so  deeply  and  intensely  felt  as  it  is,  for  example, 
in  the  seventy-third  Psalm  without  bringing  with  it 
the  demand  and  the  certainty  of  continuance  after 
death.  This  is  explained  perhaps  by  the  persistent 
dominance,  even  in  Jeremiah,  of  the  nation  as  the  ob- 
ject of  God's  supreme  care  and  the  heir  of  His  prom- 
ises. 

In  the  post-canonical  Jewish  literature  of  New 
Testament  times  we  naturally  look  for  interactions 
between  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  ways  of  regarding 
death  and  the  future,  and  we  expect  to  find  some  an- 
ticipations of  Paul's  attitude,  remembering  that  he 
was  a  Jew  of  the  dispersion  whose  native  language 
was  Greek  but  his  education  that  of  a  Palestinian 
rabbi.  It  is  interesting  to  find  in  the  Apocalypse  of 
Enoch,  in  one  section,  the  Similitudes,  a  conception  of 
the  future  in  which  the  spiritual  world  quite  takes  the 
place  of  this  earth  as  the  place  of  the  consummation; 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH    231 

and  the  conception  of  the  resurrection  is  correspond- 
ingly spiritualized.  In  another  section  (chapters  91- 
105)  we  find  an  assurance  of  eternal  life  for  the  spirits 
of  the  righteous  which  surprises  us  in  a  Palestinian  and 
probably  Semitic  writing,  and  seems  to  suggest  that 
the  Greek  way  of  looking  at  the  future  life  sometimes 
found  for  itself  a  place  in  the  native  Jewish  mind. 
The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  is  particularly  interesting 
because  of  the  possibility  that  Paul  was  influenced  by 
it,  and  in  any  case  because  it  was  written  by  a  man 
like  Paul  who  wrote  in  Greek  but  still  thought  pre- 
vailingly as  a  Jew.  The  writer  of  Wisdom  knows  the 
sort  of  denial  of  immortality  which  Plato  also  com- 
bats, the  view  that  when  the  body  turns  to  ashes  the 
spirit  is  dispersed  as  thin  air;  but  he  does  not  answer 
this  argument  by  the  effort  to  prove  that  the  soul  is 
immaterial.  It  is  with  a  religious  faith  not  a  philo- 
sophical argument  that  he  meets  this  scepticism.  He 
d,ffinus  that  God  did  not  make  death,  but  that  men 
bring  it  upon  themselves  by  sinful  choice;  that  right- 
eousness is  immortal;  that  the  righteous  only  seem  to 
die ;  and  that  man  can  attain  immortality  and  nearness 
to  God  by  love  and  obedience  to  wisdom.  There  is 
here  no  suggestion  of  resurrection,  although  there  is  no 
emphasis  on  the  soul  as  immortal,  but  only  on  immor- 
tality as  belonging  to  righteousness  and  to  the  religious 
ascent  of  the  soul  toward  God. 

Philo  is  a  Jew  who  not  only  speaks  Greek  but  thinks 
much  more  as  a  Greek  than  as  a  Jew  In  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  Pentateuch  Is  his  text-book.  Philo  knows 
his  Plato  and  also  that  later  Platonizing  Stoicism 
which  accepted  immortality.  He  adopts  the  theory  of 
the  preexistence  of  souls,  and  regards  their  descent 
into  human  bodies  as  at  least  a  calamity  if  not  a  sinful 
choice.     But  he  is  not  interested  in  Immortality  as 


232       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

merely  the  soul's  escape  from  the  prison  of  the  body 
into  its  native  ether  and  the  purity  of  its  original  free- 
dom from  contact  with  matter.  It  would  carry  us 
much  too  far  to  discuss  his  treatment  of  immortality 
in  detail.  Immortality  belongs  properly  to  God,  while 
man  is  the  mortal  race.  It  belongs  to  the  Logos  and 
to  the  world  of  ideas,  in  contrast  to  the  world  of  sense ; 
to  the  genus  also  in  contrast  to  the  individual.  The 
philosopher  attains  immortality  in  so  far  as  he  is  able 
to  rise  into  the  world  of  the  immortals,  that  is  to  ab- 
stract himself  from  the  body  and  outward  things  and 
lose  himself  in  contemplation  of  truth  and  goodness. 
This  ascent  of  the  soul  to  God  is  its  ascent  to  virtue 
as  well  as  to  knowledge ;  and  seems  in  certain  passages 
to  bring  with  it  a  real  immortality ;  yet  one  is  left  in 
the  end  with  some  uncertainty  as  to  the  persistence  of 
the  human  personality  itself.  It  is  certain  that  Philo 
does  not  emphasize  the  hope  of  immortality  as  a  mo- 
tive, and  that  he  seeks  in  this  life  that  escape  from 
the  material  world  and  from  the  body  which  is  the 
soul's  salvation  and  blessedness. 

Of  the  Hellenistic  mystery  religions  which  offered 
escape  from  death  by  union  in  a  sacramental  rite  with 
a  god  who  dies  and  rises  again,  something  will  be  said 
later  on. 

As  we  turn  back  again  to  Paul  we  are  impressed 
anew  with  the  vividness  and  power  with  which  he  held 
to  the  hope  of  life  after  death,  its  importance  to  him 
and  the  confidence  of  his  conviction.  The  foundation 
of  his  hope  is  Christ  Himself.  It  is  according  to 
Christ  that  he  interprets  life  after  death,  and  it  is  be- 
cause of  Christ,  in  Christ,  that  he  knows  it  to  be  a 
certainty.  Paul  had  seen  the  risen  and  exalted  Christ; 
he  had  seen  the  man  who  was  crucified  as  now  the 
heavenly  Lord.     But  behind  the  vision  there  was  a 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH     233 

knowledge  of  Jesus  which  made  the  vision  possible; 
and  after  the  vision  there  was  an  inner  experience 
which  meant  to  Paul  that  the  risen  Christ  was  not  only 
Lord  but  spirit;  and  one  will  misunderstand  Paul  if  he 
regards  his  vision  as  the  explanation  of  his  Christian- 
ity apart  from  his  knowledge  of  the  earthly  Jesus,  or 
apart  from  his  experience  that  the  mind  of  Jesus  was 
constantly  and  more  and  more  filling  his  nature,  dis- 
placing his  old  self  and  forming  itself  within  him. 
Paul's  belief  in  the  life  after  death  is  not  only  an  in- 
ference from  the  resurrection  of  Christ  but  is  insepa- 
rably bound  up  with  this  abiding,  progressive  re-crea- 
tion of  Paul's  inner  life  by  the  spirit  of  Christ  and 
after  the  likeness  of  Christ.  The  fundamental  prin- 
ciple of  Paul's  Christianity  is  that  Christ  is  altogether, 
from  beginning  to  end,  what  the  Christian  ought  to  be, 
and  what  because  of  Christ  he  now  can  be,  and  is,  and 
will  be.  His  doctrine  of  resurrection  is  therefore  sim- 
ply the  doctrine  of  the  Christian's  likeness  to  Christ. 

The  passages  with  which  studies  of  Paul's  doctrine 
of  the  future  usually  most  concern  themselves  are  1 
Thessalonlans  4:  13-5:  11;  1  Corinthians  15;  2  Co- 
rinthians 5:  1-10;  Philippians  1:  19-26.  The  neces- 
sity of  a  careful  study  of  these  passages  is  evident;  yet 
it  is  possible  that  too  exclusive  occupation  with  these 
sections  may  lead  one  to  a  better  understanding  of 
primitive  Christian  eschatology  than  of  the  thoughts 
most  original  with  Paul.  It  is  certain  that  these  pas- 
sages need  to  be  interpreted  in  the  light  of  many  others 
found  in  all  parts  of  his  writings.  It  will  serve  our 
purpose  to  look  briefly  at  the  passages  just  named. 
In  the  first  of  them  Paul  answers  the  fear  lest  those 
who  die  before  the  Parousia  will  miss  their  share  in 
the  glory  of  the  consummation,  that  is  fellowship  with 
Christ.    Paul  answers  that  Christ's  resurrection  makes 


234       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

certain  the  resurrection  of  His  disciples;  that  "we  that 
are  alive  "  will  have  no  advantage  over  those  who  have 
died ;  that  the  destiny  of  all  alike  is  to  be  "  ever  with 
the  Lord  '* ;  that  we  should  live  meanwhile  in  the  light 
of  this  expectation  and  in  preparation  for  this  hope, 
that  is  that  we  should  live  together  with  Him  now  in 
order  that  we  may  live  with  Him  then.  Christ's  resur- 
rection is  therefore  the  proof  that  we  shall  rise,  and 
fellowship  with  Christ  is  the  nature  of  the  Christian 
life  as  well  as  its  final  goal. 

In  1  Corinthians  15  the  same  fears  are  answered. 
Christians,  dead  and  living,  will  fare  alike  at  the  com- 
ing of  Christ,  the  living  being  transformed  into  the 
same  heavenly,  spiritual  natures  in  which  the  dead 
will  be  raised.  But  here  Paul  has  especially  to  confute 
the  position  of  Creek  Christians  who  believed  in  the 
immortality  of  the  soul  but  not  in  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  to  whom  the  resurrection  of  Christ  was 
either  an  exception  or  only  an  appearance.  He  meets 
this  antipathy  by  a  sort  of  compromise  between  the 
Hebrew  idea  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  and  the 
Greek  conception  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  No 
doubt  the  compromise  was  necessary  in  order  to  ad- 
just the  Hebrew  and  the  Greek  elements  in  his  own 
mind.  He  rejects  the  physical  conception  of  resurrec- 
tion which  on  the  whole  prevailed  in  Pharisaic  Juda- 
ism, but  resurrection  itself  was  absolutely  essential  to 
his  fundamental  faith  that  the  future  life  of  man  rests 
upon  and  is  wholly  like  that  of  Christ  Himself.  The 
strange  phrase  "  spiritual  body,"  which  would  seem  a 
contradiction  in  terms  to  every  Greek,  was  a  not  un- 
natural effort  on  the  part  of  a  Greek-speaking  Jew  to 
preserve  the  distinct  personality  and  at  the  same  time 
free  the  life  of  the  future  from  the  burden  and  cor- 
ruption of  flesh  and  blood.     The  resurrection  of  the 


PAULAS  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH    236 

physical  body  could  not  but  be  repugnant  to  every  one 
who  had  in  any  measure  the  inheritance  of  Plato  in 
his  veins.  But  Paul  believes  that  if  the  physical  body 
is  thought  of  as  transformed  and  spiritualized  this  re- 
pugnance may  be  overcome.  For  Paul  is  vehemently 
opposed  to  the  Platonic  conception  of  the  immortality 
of  the  soul,  partly  no  doubt  because  he  is  a  Hebrew, 
but  chiefly  because  it  is  not  according  to  Christ ;  it  was 
not  the  way  in  which  the  first  believers  could  have  ex- 
perienced as  a  reality  Christ's  life  after  death;  and 
Paul's  own  vision  of  the  Lord  was  necessarily  a  sense 
experience,  the  real  appearance  of  Christ  embodied  in 
glory  or  light.  But  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  which 
Paul  knew  from  his  own  seeing  just  as  Peter  did  and 
the  other  disciples,  was  not,  to  Paul,  His  return  even 
for  a  time  to  a  flesh  and  blood  existence.  In  this  Paul 
is  clearly  at  variance  with  later  traditions  found  in  the 
Gospels.  Of  Jesus  it  was  true  that  that  which  was 
sown  was  corruptible  and  that  which  was  raised  in- 
corruptible; that  it  was  sown  a  physical  body  and 
raised  a  spiritual  body.  Another  thing  which  also  the 
whole  argument  of  this  chapter  aims  to  make  clear  is 
that  Christ's  resurrection  is  typical;  that  it  is  not 
unique  except  that  it  is  first;  but  that  all  who  are  in 
Christ  will  rise  just  as  He  did.  "As  we  have  borne  the 
image  of  the  earthy  (Adam),  we  shall  also  bear  the 
image  of  the  heavenly  (Christ)."  The  present  body, 
which  does  not  rise,  Paul  calls  not  physical  or  material 
but  psychical,  a  body  fitted  for  the  human  soul.  Soul, 
psyche,  the  word  of  honour  in  Plato's  hope,  is  lowered 
in  Paul,  and  made  inseparable  from  the  physical,  to 
which  in  Plato  it  is  absolutely  contrasted;  and  the 
word  spirit,  pneiima,  which  to  the  Greeks  was  more 
material  and  less  personal  than  psyche,  and  contained 
less  promise  and  potency  of  immortality  for  man,  is 


236        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

exalted  and  becomes  the  essential  nature  of  the  risen 
Christ  and  so  of  risen  Christians;  it  becomes  also  as 
we  shall  see  the  expression  for  that  present  experience 
of  the  indwelling  Christ  which  is  already  working  out 
the  miracle  of  the  Christian's  transformation  into  both 
the  character  and  the  nature  of  his  Lord.  It  would 
seem  that  to  Paul  the  word  "  body  "  means  individual 
personality,  and  is  essential  in  his  thought  to  the  dis- 
tinction and  the  permanence  of  the  separate  self.  It 
is  therefore  necessary  to  Christ's  heavenly  life,  and 
must  remain  necessary  for  that  personal  communion 
of  disciples  with  their  Lord  and  with  one  another 
which  is  the  essence  of  the  Christian  life.  As  at  many 
other  points  of  difficulty  in  the  understanding  of  Paul, 
so  in  regard  to  this  paradoxical  union  of  body  and 
spirit  the  clue  to  the  understanding  of  his  thought  is 
to  be  found  in  the  nature  of  love,  in  other  words  in 
the  personal  quality  of  Christ. 

This  deep  feeling  of  Paul  that  the  distinct  person- 
ality which  loves  and  is  loved  must  not  be  dissolved 
by  death,  comes  to  still  more  distinct  expression  in  2 
Corinthians  5:  1-10.  It  is  a  passage  of  peculiar  diffi- 
culty and  should  not  be  interpreted  apart  from  the 
chapter  preceding  and  the  discussion  that  follows.  It 
would  seem  that  owing  to  the  "  affliction  "  to  which 
Paul  refers  in  1:  8-11,  and  probably  also  to  the  hard- 
ships and  dangers  which  he  was  constantly  encounter- 
ing, Paul  now  faced  the  probability  that  he  would  him- 
self die  before  the  coming  of  the  Lord;  and  the  pas- 
sage before  us  expresses  at  least  his  shrinking  from 
the  thought  of  death  as  a  complete  separation  of  soul 
from  body.  Pie  longs  as  much  as  any  Greek  for  de- 
liverance from  the  present  burdening  body  of  flesh, 
but  he  requires  a  heavenly  body  in  order  to  keep  and 
to  perfect  that  communion  of  his  real  self  with  Christ 


PAUUS  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH    237 

which  is  the  only  value  of  life  either  here  or  hereafter. 
What  is  not  clear  is  whether  his  longing  is  for  the 
speedy  coming  of  Christ  before  death  overtakes  him, 
so  that  the  immortal  nature  may  be  put  on  over  the 
mortal  without  any  interval  of  nakedness,  or  rather 
for  a  beginning  even  now  of  that  being  clothed  upon 
with  his  heavenly  habitation  which  will  make  death 
incapable  of  interrupting  his  being  at  home  with  the 
Lord. 

In  Philippians  also  Paul  looks  forward  to  death,  and 
even  desires  it  as  a  departing  to  be  with  Christ, 
accepting  a  longer  life  in  the  flesh  only  that  he 
may  magnify  Christ  by  further  ministry  to  his  con- 
verts. 

The  passages  we  have  thus  briefly  reviewed  contain 
many  problems  and  suggest  many  questions  of  which 
we  have  not  taken  account.  The  questions  that  are 
most  discussed  are,  (1)  Whether  there  is  a  change  in 
Paul  between  First  and  Second  Corinthians  from  a 
more  Jewish  eschatological  form  of  hope  to  greater 
emphasis  on  inner  union  with  Christ  the  Spirit;  and 
(2)  whether  Paul's  eschatology  remains  purely  Jewish 
in  its  fundamental  features,  or  is  influenced  either  by 
the  philosophy  or  by  the  mystery  religions  of  Helle- 
nism. 

It  has  been  argued  (especially  by  Schweitzer)  that 
the  most  essential  thing  for  the  understanding  of  Paul 
is  to  see  that  all  his  teachings,  ethical  and  theological, 
are  determined  by  the  peculiarity  of  the  short  interval 
between  the  resurrection  and  the  parousia  of  Christ  in 
which  his  own  work  must  be  done ;  and  that  it  is  our 
chief  task  to  attempt,  in  the  light  of  this,  and  with  the 
help  of  occasional  hints  in  his  letters,  to  reconstruct 
his  eschatological  scheme  by  answering  such  questions 
as  these:  Are  there  two  resurrections  or  one;  one  judg- 


238        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

ment  or  two?  Who  are  to  rise  at  the  parousia?  Does 
judgment  take  place  then?  What  is  the  relation  be- 
tween judgment  and  election?  Can  believers  who  fall 
lose  their  final  blessedness?  Is  there  a  general  resur- 
rection? When  are  the  elect  to  judge  angels?  Such 
questions,  I  cannot  but  think,  indicate  an  external  and 
remote  attitude  toward  Paul  himself. 

There  are  other  passages,  many  of  them,  besides 
those  referred  to,  in  which  Paul  expresses  in  varying 
terms  but  with  clearness  and  emphasis  the  things  that 
he  is  most  anxious  to  have  his  converts  understand 
and  make  their  own.  The  following  are  some  of  the 
many  passages  of  fundamental  importance  for  the  un- 
derstanding of  Paul's  doctrine,  passages  which  need 
to  be  read  and  reread  and  understood  even  more 
through  sympathy  and  spiritual  response,  through  tact 
and  insight,  than  through  comparison  with  contem- 
porary eschatologies  and  current  conceptions  of  the 
world:  Galatians  2:  19-20;  5:  lG-6:  10,  14;  Romans 
6-8;  14:7-8;  1  Corinthians  3:21-23;  2  Corinthians 
1:8-10;  3:17-18;  4:1-5:19;  13:3-4;  Colossians 
2:20-23;  3:1-17;  Philippians  1:20-25;  2:1-11; 
3:  10-14,  20-21. 

It  would  be  better  to  read  these  parts  of  Paul's  let- 
ters and  let  his  words  have  their  natural  effect  upon 
us  than  to  discuss,  as  we  must  proceed  to  do,  some  of 
the  questions  they  suggest.  Words  such  as  these  im- 
part not  only  truth,  but  a  great  and  distinct  person- 
ality; and  yet  not  only  a  particular  personality,  but 
universal  truth,  "truth  not  individual  and  local,  but 
general,  and  operative;  not  standing  upon  external 
testimony,  but  carried  alive  into  the  heart  by  passion ; 
truth  which  is  its  own  testimony."  For  this  man  is 
not  only  a  great  disciple  and  prophet  of  Christ,  but  a 
creator  of  Christian  experience  and  of  the  language  in 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    239 

which  it  can  be  expressed  and  imparted.  He  is  a  great 
Christian  poet;  and  one  is  tempted  to  quote  Words- 
worth further  because  the  appHcation  of  his  words  to 
Paul  is  so  exact  and  illuminating.  The  poet  "  is  a 
man  speaking  to  men:  a  man,  it  is  true,  endowed  with 
more  lively  sensibility,  more  enthusiasm  and  tender- 
ness, who  has  a  greater  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
and  a  more  comprehensive  soul,  than  are  supposed  to 
be  common  among  mankind;  a  man  pleased  with  his 
own  passions  and  volitions,  and  who  rejoices  more 
than  other  men  in  the  spirit  of  life  that  is  in  him; 
delighting  to  contemplate  similar  volitions  and  pas- 
sions as  manifested  in  the  goings-on  of  the  universe, 
and  habitually  impelled  to  create  them  where  he  does 
not  find  them," — it  would  be  difficult  to  describe  bet- 
ter the  author  of  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans  or  the 
fourth  of  Second  Corinthians.  Further  Paul  is  a 
genius  of  the  sort  that  "  sends  the  soul  into  herself, 
to  be  admonished  of  her  weakness,  or  to  be  made  con- 
scious of  her  power."  And  with  such  a  writer  one 
can  make  progress  only  if  "  he  is  invigorated  and  in- 
spirited by  his  leader,  in  order  that  he  may  exert  him- 
self." Paul  is  one  of  those  who  calls  forth  and  be- 
stows power,  who  requires  and  creates  in  his  readers 
thoughts  and  feelings  like  his  own. 

If  now  we  undertake  the  often  thankless  and  even 
perilous  task  of  changing  poetry  into  prose,  of  looking 
for  intellectual  conceptions  in  words  of  imagination  and 
passion,  there  are  especially  two  thoughts  in  Paul  that 
often  recur,  and  that  challenge  the  mind  to  grasp  them 
and  to  test  their  value.  One  is  the  thought  that  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  is  typical,  normal,  not  unique, 
the  first,  but  the  first  of  many,  a  disclosure,  therefore, 
of  the  reality,  the  grounds  and  the  nature  of  man's 
life  after  death.     The  other  is  the  thought  that  the 


240       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

dying  and  rising  of  Jesus  is  also  experienced  here  and 
now  in  the  Hfe  of  every  behever,  and  describes  the 
present  moral  oneness  of  the  disciple  with  his  Lord. 
Our  questions,  therefore,  concern  especially  these  two 
conceptions.  How  did  Paul  think  of  the  resurrection 
of  Christ,  and,  therefore,  how  of  the  future  life  of  the 
Christian?  And  how  did  he  think  of  the  oneness  of 
the  believer  with  Christ,  and  especially  in  what  rela- 
tion to  each  other  did  he  put  present  ethical  oneness 
or  likeness  of  character,  and  future  sharing  of  de- 
liverance from  death  and  transformation  into  a 
heavenly  nature? 

In  regard  to  the  first  of  these  questions,  a  matter 
of  fundamental  significance  is  that  it  was  God  who 
raised  Christ  from  the  dead.  After  the  w^ord  *'  Fa- 
ther "  (Abba),  Paul's  ruling  title  for  God  might  al- 
most be  said  to  be.  He  that  raised  up  Jesus  Christ 
from  the  dead/  The  same  God  who  raised  up  Jesus 
Christ  from  the  dead  will  raise  us  also  with  Him.  We 
have  seen  that  there  is  in  Paul  no  doctrine  of  the  im- 
mortal nature  of  the  soul,  or  of  that  higher  part  of 
the  nature  of  all  men  which  Paul  calls  the  mind,  or 
the  inward  man.  There  is  also  no  intimation  of  the 
preexistence  of  the  soul.  Immortality  is  God's  crea- 
tive act,  the  work  of  His  power  and  gift  of  His  grace 
first  to  Christ,  and  then  to  all  who  are  His.  Christ  is 
the  first  fruits,  the  first  born,  the  first  of  many  brethren 
(Col.  1:  15,  18;  Rom.  8:  29).  But  Paul  accepts  the 
preexistence  of  Christ,  and  even,  in  a  few  sentences, 
implies  His  identity  with  that  divine  Wisdom  through 
whom  God  made  the  world.  Our  first  thought  nat- 
urally is  that  the  life  after  death  of  one  who  lived  with 

'i  Thcss.  l:io;  Gal.  i:i;  Rom.  4:17,  24;  7:4;  6:4;  8:  11; 
10 :  7,  9 ;  7 :  4 ;  I  Cor.  6:14;  15:15;  2  Cor.  1:9;  4 :  14 ;  Col.  2 :  12, 
20;  1 :  18;  3:3. 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    241 

Cod  before  His  earthly  life  is  only  natural,  His  re- 
sumption of  His  true  nature  after  the  brief  interrup- 
tion of  His  incarnation.  It  is  surely  a  matter  of  great 
significance  that  Paul  makes  no  use  whatever  of  the 
preexistence  of  Christ  as  explaining  His  immortality. 
It  is  strange  that  even  though  He  preexisted  in  the 
form  of  God  it  should  still  be  necessary  that  God 
should  raise  Him  from  the  dead  by  a  direct  act  of 
creative  power,  exactly  as  He  will  raise  every  follower 
of  His.  The  account  of  the  life,  death  and  exaltation 
of  Christ  in  Philippians  2:  1-11  is  peculiarly  striking. 
He  preexisted  in  the  form  of  God,  that  is  as  an  angelic 
or  divine  being;  but  it  was  not  for  this  reason  that  He 
attained  life  after  death.  He  did  not,  because  of  His 
divine  nature,  return  at  death  to  His  former  state. 
He  was  not  one  whose  humanity  was  only  an  appear- 
ance. God  raised  Him  from  death  and  exalted  Him 
to  a  new  place  and  title  greater  than  He  had  before 
because  He  renounced  such  honours  and  powers  and 
chose  instead  humility  and  sacrifice,  even  the  death  of 
the  cross.  In  all  this  He  was  not  unique.  Paul  de- 
scribes his  experience  only  in  order  to  enforce  the 
admonition  to  love  and  lowliness  and  to  a  care  not  for 
one's  own  things  but  also  for  the  things  of  others.  So 
that  what  Paul  here  says  of  the  preexistent  Christ  does 
not  in  Paul's  own  mind  prevent  His  being  fully  our 
example,  not  only  in  moral  character  but  even  in  His 
attainment  of  life  after  death.  Nothing  is  attributed 
to  the  preexistent  Christ  who  was  in  the  form  of  God 
except  precisely  that  mind  of  humility  and  compassion 
which  ought  to  characterize  men  upon  earth;  and  it 
was  because  of  this  that  He  lived  after  death. 

A  different,  less  human  and  personal,  conception  of 
the  preexistence  of  Christ  underlies  those  few  expres- 
sions of  Paul  which  identify  Him  with  the  divine  Wis- 


242        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

dom.  It  cannot  be  doubted,  in  view  of  Proverbs  8, 
Ecclesiasticus  24,  Wisdom  of  Solomon  7,  that  when 
Paul  says,  "  There  is  one  God,  the  Father,  of  whom 
are  all  things,  and  we  unto  him ;  and  one  Lord,  Jesus 
Christ,  through  whom  are  all  things,  and  we  through 
him"  (1  Cor.  8:6);  or,  ''In  him  were  all  things 
created  ...  all  things  have  been  created  through 
him,  and  unto  him ;  and  he  is  before  all  things,  and  in 
him  all  things  consist"  (Col.  1:  16-17),  he  implies 
that  Christ  is  the  divine  Wisdom.  Such  references, 
however,  are  few  and  the  thought  is  not  elaborated. 
We  have  not  yet  in  Paul  so  developed  a  Logos  doc- 
trine as  in  the  Fourth  Gospel.  Moreover  in  1  Corin- 
thians 1:  24,  30;  2:  6,  where  Christ  is  called  the  wis- 
dom of  God,  it  is  without  any  suggestion  of  an  eternal 
divine  hypostasis.  It  is  rather  the  Gospel  itself  which 
is  here  a  divine  wisdom  in  contrast  to  the  pretentious 
foolishness  of  Greek  philosophy.  But  perhaps  the 
most  striking  proof  that  Paul  did  not  create  but  only 
here  and  there  recognized  the  Wisdom  Christology  is 
to  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  he  makes  no  use  of  it  as  an 
explanation  of  Christ's  life  after  death.  One  who  is 
in  reality  only  the  incarnation  of  the  eternal  divine 
Wisdom,  the  reason,  or  power,  or  spirit  of  God, 
through  which  the  world  was  made  and  in  and  by 
which  it  consists,  would  not  require  a  divine  act  to 
raise  Him  from  the  dead.  Death  could  only  be^  His 
release  and  return  to  His  former  and  abiding  divine 
and  eternal  existence.  Paul,  must  we  not  say,  inter- 
prets the  Wisdom  of  God  as  Jesus  Christ,  in  the  sense 
that  in  Him  men  have  fully  all  that  knowledge  of  God 
and  access  to  Him  and  experience  of  His  indwelling 
which  such  a  Jew  as  the  writer  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom 
found  in  that  Spirit  of  Wisdom  which  fills  the  world 
and  comes  freely  in  answer  to  prayer  into  human  lives. 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH     243 

making  men  friends  of  God  and  prophets,  and  impart- 
ing its  own  immortality.  But  Paul  does  not  so  inter- 
pret Jesus  by  the  divine  Wisdom  as  to  endanger  his 
fundamental  principle  that  Jesus  is  altogether,  from 
first  to  last,  that  which  every  Christian  can  be  and 
should  be.  The  case  is  somewhat  different  with  the 
writer  of  the  Gospel  of  John,  although  even  here  the 
natural  logic  of  the  Logos  Christology  is  not  carried 
through.  The  story  of  the  resurrection-appearances 
of  Christ  retains  its  place ;  but  at  many  points  we  are 
reminded  that  eternal  life  belongs  to  Christ  by  origin 
and  nature  rather  than  by  a  special  act  of  God.  Christ 
came  from  God  into  human  life,  and  it  is  but  according 
to  His  nature  that  He  should  return  to  God.  He  is 
always,  even  while  on  earth,  divine.  That  His  earthly 
life  is  real,  that  the  Logos  became  flesh,  that  He  was 
really  crucified  and  really  rose  from  the  grave,  is  in- 
sisted upon  no  doubt  precisely  because  there  were  those 
who  made  the  natural  inference  from  the  Logos  doc- 
trine that  the  earthly  life  of  Jesus  was  only  a  seeming, 
and  the  death  either  unreal  or  the  dying  of  a  human 
being  who  had  been  for  a  short  time  the  bearer  of  a 
divine  presence,  not  his  own  human  self.  Yet  the 
writer  is  himself,  of  course,  convinced  that  Jesus  was 
the  incarnate  Logos,  and  in  some  ways  reveals  the 
consequences  of  this  doctrine  as  Paul  does  not.  Never 
in  John  is  God  spoken  of  as  the  one  who  raised  Jesus 
from  the  dead.  Jesus,  on  the  contrary,  is  one  to  whom 
God  has  given  His  own  distinctive  power  of  raising  the 
dead,  of  having  life  in  Himself,  and  giving  life  to 
whom  He  will  (John  5:  21-27).  The  account  of  the 
resurrection  of  Lazarus  with  its  culminating  sentence, 
"  I  am  the  resurrection,  and  the  life:  he  that  believeth 
on  me,  though  he  die,  yet  shall  he  live :  and  whosoever 
liveth  and  believeth  on  me  shall  never  die,"  would  seem 


244        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

to  make  his  own  resurrection  unnatural  and  out  of 
place.  We  can  well  understand  how  in  opposition  to 
Docetism  the  death  and  resurrection  retain  their  place, 
but  we  can  understand  also  the  emphasis  with  which  it 
is  said,  ''  I  lay  down  my  life,  that  I  may  take  it  again. 
No  one  taketh  it  away  from  me,  but  I  lay  it  down  of 
myself.  I  have  power  to  lay  it  down,  and  I  have  power 
to  take  it  again"  (10:  17,  18).  It  is  true  that  the 
Son  does  everything  as  the  Father  gives  Him  com- 
mandment. It  is  true  also  that  even  in  John  the  one- 
ness of  the  Son  with  the  Father  is  to  be  fully  shared 
by  all  who  are  one  with  Him  in  love  and  obedience. 
Yet  it  is  perhaps  not  too  much  to  say  that  John  marks 
a  stage  between  Paul  and  the  later  theology  which 
professes  to  rest  upon  them  both,  but  in  reality  de- 
parts still  more  than  John  from  Paul's  conception  that 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  are  entirely 
typical  and  in  every  respect  parallel  to  that  of  all  whose 
life  is  like  His.  It  is  seriously  to  misunderstand  Paul 
if  we  fail  to  recognize  that  Christ's  resurrection  was 
significant  for  Christ  Himself.  It  signifies  His  desig- 
nation as  Son  of  God  with  power  (Rom.  1:  4) ;  it 
was  His  elevation  to  the  supreme  office  and  title  of 
Lord  (Phil.  2:  10,  11);  through  it  He  became  life- 
giving  spirit  (1  Cor.  15:  45).  All  that  Christ  is  to 
the  Christian  He  came  to  be  through  His  resurrec- 
tion. 

But  why  did  God  raise  Him  from  the  dead  ?  About 
this  Paul  is  explicit.  It  was  because  of  the  mind 
which  was  in  Him,  because  of  the  moral  character  of 
His  self-renunciation  and  obedience  even  unto  death, 
because  in  lowliness  of  mind  He  counted  others  better 
than  Himself.  In  other  words,  Christ  attained  to  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead  through  what  He  was 
and  suffered  and  achieved,  and  in  this  respect  also  is 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH    245 

not  removed  by  the  uniqueness  of  His  nature  from  His 
place  as  the  first  among  many  brethren. 

We  have  already  answered  the  question  in  what 
form  or  nature  Christ  was  raised;  but  may  still  ask 
what  Paul's  thought  probably  was  as  to  the  relation 
of  the  "  spiritual  body  "  to  the  body  that  died  and  was 
buried.  Does  Paul's  description  of  the  resurrection  in 
1  Corinthians  15:  35ff.  enable  us  to  say  whether  the 
appearances  of  the  risen  Christ  to  Peter  and  last  of  all 
to  Paul  himself  implied  in  Paul's  mind  the  empty 
tomb  of  Gospel  tradition?  That  the  body  that  arose 
was  not  the  body  that  was  buried  is  emphatically  af- 
firmed. The  relation  of  the  new  to  the  old  is  likened 
to  the  relation  between  a,  grain  of  wheat  and  the  blade 
that  grows  from  it.  Christians  who  live  when  Christ 
comes  are  to  be  suddenly  translated,  the  corruptible 
putting  on  incorruption,  and  the  mortal  putting  on  im- 
mortality. In  so  far  as  Paul's  interest  in  affirming 
bodily  resurrection  lies  in  his  Hebraic  feeling  that  to 
the  body  belongs  the  personality  it  would  seem  neces- 
sary to  him  to  think  of  the  spiritual  body  as  having  a 
real  connection,  in  spite  of  its  radical  difference,  with 
the  earthy  and  psychic.  Perhaps  we  can  further  make 
an  inference  in  this  case  from  the  experience  of  the 
Christian  to  the  experience  of  Christ,  reversing  the 
usual  order,  and  infer  from  the  fact  that  Paul  thinks 
of  the  Christian  as  already  being  transformed  into  the 
bodily  as  well  as  the  spiritual  nature  of  Christ,  that 
the  heavenly  nature  is  a  transformation  of  the  earthy 
rather  than  a  complete  substitute  for  it.  Yet  perhaps 
all  these  considerations  do  not  outweigh  the  opposite 
impression  of  Paul's  vehement  assertion  that  "  flesh 
and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  Kingdom  of  God ;  neither 
doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption."  It  is  not  easy 
to  suppose  that  Paul's  conviction  that  Christ  was  raised 


246        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

on  the  third  day  depended  at  all  upon  the  discovery 
of  the  empty  tomb,  or  involved  any  knowledge  or  care 
as  to  what  became  of  the  fleshly  body. 

Our  second  main  question  concerns  the  nature  of 
the  Christian's  oneness  with  Christ.  This  is  the  point 
at  which  it  is  now  usual  to  compare  Paul's  language 
with  that  of  various  Hellenistic  mystery  cults  of  Paul's 
time  and  soon  after  of  which  we  have  fragmentary 
records.  The  common  feature  in  these  Oriental  re- 
ligions which  made  their  way  into  the  Greco-Roman 
world  is  the  conception  that  through  some  ceremony, 
some  magical  sacrament,  the  worshipper  may  become 
so  identified  with  a  deity,  and  especially  with  the  death 
and  rising  of  a  god,  that  he  escapes  the  mortality  of 
human  nature  and  becomes  immortal,  and  in  that  sense 
deified.  The  possibility  is  not  to  be  excluded  that  Paul 
could  have  known  something  about  such  cults  and 
could  have  heard  the  language  in  which  their  devotees 
described  their  experience  of  dying  and  rising  again 
with  their  god.  What  his  relationship  was  to  such 
movements  it  will  probably  never  be  possible  to  know 
with  any  certainty  or  fullness.  What  can  be  said  with 
confidence  is  that  Paul  here  as  elsewhere  knew  how 
to  subject  the  thoughts  and  fancies  of  those  about  him 
to  the  mind  of  Christ.  That  which  distinguishes  the 
mystical  language  of  Paul  from  that  of  the  so-called 
Mithras-Liturgy  and  other  similar  records  is  above  all 
his  ethical  emphasis.  Death  is  the  evil  from  which  the 
mystery-religions  sought  redemption.  To  Paul  also 
death  is  an  evil  the  fear  and  burden  of  which  he  deeply 
feels;  and  it  Is  an  evil  from  which  Christ  brings  re- 
demption. But  there  Is  another  evil  which  lies  deeper 
and  from  which  redemption  must  be  sought  first.  It  is 
sin  through  which  man  has  been  brought  Into  subjec- 
tion to  death,  and  even  the  whole  creation  put  In  bond- 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH    247 

age  to  corruption;  and  the  fundamental  Christian  ex- 
perience is  not  the  sense  of  immortaHty  through  union 
with  a  divine  being,  but  the  sense  of  righteousness,  the 
feeUng  of  moral  capacity,  the  ability  to  do  the  good 
that  one  wills,  the  consciousness  that  pure  impulses 
have  the  upper  hand  over  the  lusts  of  the  flesh,  and 
above  all  that  unselfishness  triumphs  over  the  natural 
human  assertions  of  pride,  envy,  anger  and  hatred. 
The  Christian,  then,  in  Paul's  experience  is  first  of  all 
one  who  because  of  Christ  is  making  his  own  the 
moral  nature  of  Christ;  and  Paul  knows  that  this 
transformation  after  the  image  of  Christ,  this  forming 
of  Christ  in  the  Christian,  means  in  the  end  sharing 
His  resurrection. 

There  are  two  peculiarities  which  Paul's  language 
about  the  oneness  of  the  Christian  with  Christ  sug- 
gests, two  directions  in  which  apparent  opposites  come 
together  and  seem  even  fused  into  one.  The  trans- 
formation of  the  Christian  into  the  likeness  of  Christ 
is  on  the  one  side  a  divine  miracle,  comparable  only 
to  that  of  creation  itself,  the  work  in  man  of  the  Spirit 
of  God,  which  is  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  or  Christ  Him- 
self ;  but  it  is  at  the  same  time  the  duty  of  the  Chris- 
tian, a  thing  constantly  to  strive  after,  never  to  be  cer- 
tain of,  but  always  to  make  the  object  of  strenuous 
endeavour.  Paul  in  one  breath  tells  Christians  what 
they  already  are,  sons  of  God,  spiritual  beings,  no 
longer  in  the  flesh,  no  longer  even  men,  and  then  urges 
them  to  become  what  they  are,  to  make  actual  their 
real  nature  as  Christians  by  their  choices  and  desires, 
to  suppress  by  moral  effort  the  passions  and  self-as- 
sertions that  are  already  dead,  or  to  which  they  have 
died,  because  Christ  Is  In  them. 

The  second  peculiarity  in  Paul's  thought  is  found  in 
the  relation  in  which  the  ethical  redemption  and  the 


248       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

physical  redemption  of  the  Christian  stand  to  each 
other.  We  should  perhaps  have  expected  that  Paul 
would  put  side  by  side  the  influence  of  the  mind  of 
Christ,  the  power  of  His  example,  the  divine  inwork- 
ing  of  His  spirit  by  which  His  character  is  reproduced 
in  men,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  the  proof  derived  from 
His  death  and  resurrection  that  resurrection  and 
eternal  life  await  the  Christian  also  hereafter;  so  that 
we  should  have  first  the  present  conquest  of  sin 
through  the  indwelling  spirit,  and  then  for  the  future 
the  hope  of  deliverance  from  death  and  reunion  with 
Christ  in  some  more  outward  way  as  of  person  with 
person.  But  in  fact  Paul  seems  especially  to  like  to 
put  these  two  things  together  so  that  they  are  even 
sometimes  confused  or  blended,  so  much  do  they  seem 
to  him  to  be  two  aspects  of  one  and  the  same  thing. 
Dying  and  rising  with  Christ  means  not  only  nor  even 
chiefly  for  Paul  being  raised  by  God  as  Christ  was  from 
the  dead  to  a  spiritual  nature  like  His  and  to  a  share  in 
His  glory ;  but  it  means  also  and  more  often  dying  to 
sin  and  rising  to  newness  of  life.  The  death  and  resur- 
rection of  Christ  are  literally  to  be  repeated  in  case  of 
every  Christian ;  but  they  are  also  to  be  spiritually  ex- 
perienced or  undertaken  by  the  Christian,  and  they 
constitute  the  principle  of  his  inner  life.  Dying  in 
order  to  live  is  the  very  essence  of  the  imitation  of 
Christ.  Moreover  the  purifying  of  the  nature  from 
sin  and  the  transformation  of  the  body  into  incorrup- 
tion  are  two  processes  that  go  on  continuously  to- 
gether. No  doubt  when  one  reads  the  eighth  chapter 
of  Romans  one's  first  impression  may  be  that  the 
Christian  has  already  experienced  fully  the  new  inner 
life  of  the  spirit  in  which  sin  has  no  place,  but  that  he 
still  looks  forward  in  hope  to  that  which  is  still  lack- 
ing in  his  sonship,  that  is,  to  the  redemption  of  his 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTER  DEATH    249 

body ;  that  only  with  this  will  come  the  full  revelation 
of  Christians  as  sons  of  God,  and  that  with  this  the 
weakness  and  corruption  to  which  the  whole  creation 
is  subjected  will  also  be  overcome.  But  Paul  does  not 
look  at  the  matter  quite  so  simply  as  this ;  for  on  the 
one  hand  the  end  of  sin  and  the  attainment  of  the 
spirit  of  Christ  although  it  is  given  in  the  death  of 
Christ  and  in  the  spirit  of  life  which  the  Christian  has 
already  received,  is  nevertheless  still  to  be  worked  out 
by  man  through  moral  effort ;  and  on  the  other  hand 
the  redemption  of  the  body  does  not  wait  altogether 
for  death,  but  begins  and  in  some  mysterious  way  goes 
forward  here  and  now. 

If  we  glance  at  some  of  the  passages  that  are  most 
characteristic  of  Paul  and  have  the  least  connection 
with  anything  to  be  found  in  the  literature  of  his  time 
we  shall  understand  better  than  by  generalizations  the 
peculiarity,  and  perhaps  get  a  clue  to  the  understand- 
ing, of  his  characteristic  way  of  looking  at  the  Chris- 
tian experience.  In  the  sixth  chapter  of  Romans  Paul 
finds  that  baptism  signifies  a  union  with  Christ  in  His 
death  and  in  His  resurrection,  an  end  of  the  body  of 
sin,  a  walking  in  newness  of  life,  and  yet  at  the  same 
time  the  assurance  of  future  life  with  Him.  Paul's 
use  of  these  expressions  is  so  free  and  various  that 
we  cannot  think  that  he  was  bound  by  a  hard  and  fast 
interpretation.  He  writes  far  more  as  a  poet  than  as 
a  theologian.  But  one  thing  is  beyond  doubt,  that  his 
emphasis  is  ethical,  and  that  he  does  not  mean  Chris- 
tians to  suppose  that  the  death  and  resurrection  of 
Christ  carry  with  them  by  any  physical  necessity  either 
the  moral  perfection  or  the  exemption  from  death  that 
belong  to  Him.  His  "  therefore  "  is,  "  Let  not  sin 
reign  in  your  mortal  bodies."  They  are  to  think  of 
themselves  as  dead  to  sin  and  alive  unto  God,  and  then 


250        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

are  to  act  accordingly.  Man's  redemption  from  both 
sin  and  death  is  already  historically  accomplished  and 
is  at  the  same  time  in  both  cases  future ;  both  redemp- 
tions are  gracious  acts  of  God,  yet  both  are  achieved 
by  man's  choice  and  effort;  having  been  made  free 
from  sin  we  are  to  make  ourselves  servants  of  right- 
eousness; since  death  has  no  more  dominion  over  us 
we  are  free  to  attain  as  servants  of  God  the  end, 
eternal  life. 

In  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans  Paul's  high  self- 
consciousness  as  a  Christian  comes  to  its  supreme  ex- 
pression. He  has  described  the  reign  of  sin,  and  has 
brought  it  certainly  into  close  relation  with  the  flesh, 
the  body  and  its  members,  and  the  law  or  impulse  that 
resides  in  these.  Now  all  these  are  dead.  Christians 
no  longer  live  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the  spirit;  because 
Christ  is  in  them  the  body  is  dead  on  account  of  the 
sin  belonging  to  it,  but  the  spirit  is  life  because  of 
righteousness.  And  then  by  that  quick  confusing  turn, 
so  characteristic  of  Paul,  death  becomes  literal  death 
again  and  life  the  future  resurrection  which  Christ's 
resurrection  makes  certain  and  His  spirit  dwelling  in  us 
brings  about.  It  is  evident  that  the  moral  renewal 
which  Christians  see  in  themselves  is  to  Paul  the  most 
convincing  proof  of  the  physical  renewal  which  is  yet 
to  be.  The  word  spirit  is  extremely  helpful  to  Paul 
in  his  effort  to  express  both  the  inwardness  and  the 
divine  source  and  quality  of  what  is  new  in  the  Chris- 
tian experience.  Since  it  is  divine  the  spirit  is  eternal 
and  is  a  principle  of  eternal  life  in  man;  but  since  it  is 
the  spirit  of  Christ,  it  has  also  the  quality  of  His  moral 
nature  and  creates  likeness  to  Him  in  those  who  possess 
it.  It  is  the  spirit  of  sonship,  enabling  man  to  say 
'*  Father  *' ;  and  having  made  us  sons  it  makes  us 
thereby  heirs  with  Christ  and  sharers  with  Him  both 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    251 

of  suffering  and  of  glory.  This  whole  chapter  makes 
it  evident  that  Paul's  faith  in  the  resurrection  is  bound 
up  with  His  experience  that  the  spirit  of  Christ  is  al- 
ready in  the  Christian  and  is  already  transforming 
him  into  the  likeness  of  Christ. 

Christians  now  have  to  suffer  more  than  other  men, 
and  Paul  himself  more  than  other  Christians ;  yet  this 
very  suffering  is  only  a  part  and  a  proof  of  likeness  to 
Christ.  Like  His,  these  are  the  sufferings  of  love. 
Death  may  be  their  outcome  for  the  disciple  as  for  the 
Master,  but  that  Christ  was  raised  from  the  dead  is 
proof  of  the  love  of  God  and  of  the  certainty  that  from 
that  love  no  power,  neither  death  nor  life,  neither 
things  present  nor  things  to  come,  can  separate  us. 

A  passage  that  is  hardly  less  great  than  the  eighth 
of  Romans  is  the  fourth  of  second  Corinthians.  At  the 
end  of  the  third  chapter  Paul  describes  that  transfor- 
mation into  the  image  of  the  Lord  which  is  effected  by 
the  Christian's  unveiled  vision  of  His  glory  or  by  the 
presence  of  the  Lord  Himself  as  the  indwelling  spirit. 
Then  the  sufferings  of  the  present  life,  Paul's  own 
weaknesses  and  distresses,  are  interpreted  as  a  bearing 
about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus  that  the  life  of 
Jesus  also  may  be  manifested  in  our  body;  a  death  in 
him  which  becomes  hfe  in  his  converts.  Our  outward 
man  is  decaying,  Paul  says,  yet  our  inward  man  is  re- 
newed day  by  day,  as  if  he  were  already  experiencing 
the  transformation  by  which  what  is  mortal  is  to  be 
swallowed  up  of  life. 

The  striking  way  in  which  the  divine  and  the  human, 
the  present  and  the  future  are  blended  In  Paul  Is  seen 
again  In  the  third  chapter  of  Colossians.  Christians, 
Paul  says,  have  been  already  raised  together  with 
Christ.  He  therefore  admonishes  them  to  set  their 
minds  on  the  things  that  are  above,  where  Christ  is. 


252        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

He  would  have  them  realize  that  they  have  died,  and 
that  their  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God;  and  since  this 
is  so  he  urges  them  to  put  to  death  their  members  that 
are  upon  the  earth.  Having  put  off  the  old  man  and 
put  on  the  new,  he  presses  upon  them  the  duty  of  put- 
ting away  anger  and  wrath,  malice  and  lying,  and  put- 
ting on  a  heart  of  compassion,  kindness,  and  humility. 

One  more  passage  which  guards  us  against  neglect- 
ing the  ethical  or  substituting  a  mystical  and  magical 
conception  as  Paul's  understanding  of  the  Christian 
life,  is  in  the  third  chapter  of  Philippians.  The  right- 
eousness which  is  not  his  own  but  is  from  God  by  faith, 
is  nevertheless  a  righteousness  that  he  still  strives  to 
attain  by  every  effort  to  the  end  of  his  life.  Fellow- 
ship with  Christ,  which  is  the  power  of  the  new  life  in 
Him,  and  also  of  life  after  death,  is  even  still  some- 
thing to  strive  after,  and  he  will  make  no  claim  that  he 
has  attained.  "  That  I  may  know  him,  and  the  power 
of  his  resurrection,  and  the  fellowship  of  his  suffer- 
ings, becoming  conformed  unto  his  death;  if  by  any 
means  I  may  attain  unto  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 
Not  that  I  have  already  attained,  or  am  already  made 
perfect:  but  I  press  on,  if  so  be  that  I  may  apprehend 
that  for  which  also  I  was  apprehended  by  Christ 
Jesus." 

Paul's  doctrine  of  the  dying  and  rising  of  the  Chris- 
tian with  Christ  does  not,  therefore,  divide  sharply 
into  two  doctrines,  that  of  a  present  complete  dying  to 
sin  and  rising  to  the  fullness  of  the  new  and  perfect  life 
according  to  Christ,  and  that  of  the  future  rising  from 
the  dead  by  the  deed  of  God.  For  on  the  one  hand  the 
perfect  life  in  Christ  is  not  yet  fully  attained,  though 
Paul  likes  to  assert  it  in  order  to  kindle  the  desire  to 
make  what  is  ideally  true  actual  in  one's  conduct  and 
spirit;  and  on  the  other  hand  the  coming  transforma- 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    253 

tlon  of  the  body  is  in  some  way  anticipated  in  the 
Christian's  present  experience.  Somehow  Paul  was 
convinced  that  his  own  body  with  its  weaknesses  and 
sufferings,  faihng  and  deca3dng  as  it  seemed  to  him, 
was  becoming  a  fitter  dweUing  place  and  instrument  of 
the  Spirit,  freer  from  impulses  that  held  him  to  earth 
and  things  of  sense;  although  he  still  longed  for  that 
complete  translation  through  which  would  come  to  him 
a  bodily  life  free  from  weakness  and  suffering,  and 
lifted  above  death,  in  which  the  spirit  could  realize 
without  hindrance  its  full  and  perfect  life.  Many 
things  in  Paul's  letters  remind  us  that  he  is  not  a  Greek 
to  whom  soul  and  body  are  two  unrelated  natures  for- 
eign to  each  other,  the  body  being  but  the  tomb  or 
prison  of  the  soul.  To  Paul  man  is  a  unity.  It  is  not 
the  body  that  weighs  the  soul  down  and  from  which  re- 
lief is  sought;  the  body  is  capable  of  redemption.  It  is 
even  now  holy  as  a  temple  of  God  since  the  spirit  of 
God  dwells  in  it.  This  helps  us  understand  how  it  is 
that  the  dying  and  rising  of  Christ  can  be  to  Paul  at  the 
same  time  an  ethical  experience  present  and  continu- 
ous, and  also  a  future  physical  dying  and  a  rising  no 
longer  in  the  image  of  the  earthy  but  in  that  of  the 
heavenly. 

We  have  seen  that  the  experience  of  the  spirit  is  the 
present  attestation  of  the  truth  of  the  Christian  hope. 
We  know  from  Paul's  discussion  of  the  gifts  of  the 
spirit  that  of  all  the  various  phenomena  in  which  early 
Christianity  saw  proof  that  a  divine  power  had  taken 
up  Its  abode  in  man,  Paul  values  most  those  that  were 
most  in  accordance  with  the  character  and  purposes  of 
Jesus,  those  that  most  conduced  to  the  unity  and  to 
the  upbuilding  of  the  Christian  brotherhood.  It  is 
certain  that  to  Paul  the  supreme  proof  that  Christ 
had  risen  and  therefore  the  proof  of  life  after  death 


254       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTTJEE  LIFE 

was  the  experience  that  Christ's  spirit  in  him  and  in 
other  Christians  was  creative  of  a  new  moral  nature, 
that  in  Christ  the  old  man,  the  sinful  nature,  had  died. 
"If  any  man  is  in  Christ,  he  is  a  new  creature:  the  old 
things  are  passed  away;  behold  they  are  become  new." 
Paul  is  one  of  the  most  confident  and  greatest  of  all 
witnesses  for  hope  in  immortality;  and  the  ultimate 
ground  of  Paul's  hope  is  not  his  vision  of  the  risen 
Christ  but,  deeper  than  that,  his  experience  of  the  spirit 
of  Christ  as  the  creator  of  a  new  moral  nature.  What 
shall  we  say,  then,  of  this  foundation  on  which  Paul's 
structure  stands  ?  Is  it  indeed  so  firm  a  fact  that  it  can 
sustain  the  faith  that  he  founded  upon  it  ?  Paul  him- 
self had  to  face  the  fact  that  Christians  did  still  sin. 
He  urged  them  to  be  in  reality  by  moral  effort  and 
achievement,  that  which  they  were  ideally  in  the 
thought  of  God,  in  their  true  life  which  is  in  Christ. 
Paul  no  doubt  sometimes  put  the  experience  of  newness 
of  life  in  strong  terms  expressing  his  exultation  of  feel- 
ing and  his  deep  sense  of  gratitude.  But  when  we  look 
at  his  life  as  a  whole,  at  the  richness  and  fullness  of 
his  Christ-likeness  in  love  and  sacrificial  devotion,  we 
are  ready  to  accept  his  testimony  that  in  Christ  he  was 
a  new  being,  that  he  no  longer  lived  but  Christ  lived  in 
him.  For  ourselves  the  truth  of  the  ideals  of  Jesus 
and  the  power  of  His  personality  to  reproduce  itself  in 
the  disciple,  His  capacity  to  become  the  spirit  of  life, 
the  spirit  of  love,  in  human  beings,  remain  realities,  the 
greatest  realities  in  the  religious  life.  Paul  is  often 
criticized  for  his  apparent  neglect  of  the  records  of 
Jesus'  earthly  life  and  teachings.  Yet  the  thirteenth 
chapter  of  first  Corinthians  is  a  marvellous  character- 
sketch  of  Christ  and  is  entirely  inexplicable  except  as 
the  result  of  His  earthly  life.  It  is  wholly  owing  to 
Jesus  that  Paul  goes  so  far  in  the  direction  of  giving 


PATJUS  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    255 

ethical  meanings  to  the  religious  language,  traditions, 
institutions  of  his  time.  Certainly  the  greatest  thing 
in  Paul  is  his  reinterpretation  of  reHgion  in  accordance 
with  the  character  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  He  is  not 
deceived  inthinkingthat  his  life  reflected  the  glory  of 
the  Lord  and  was  being  transformed  into  the  same 
likeness  from  glory  to  glory.  Nor  was  he  mistaken  in 
believing  that  a  character  such  as  that  of  Jesus,  a  min- 
istry and  sacrifice  like  His,  with  the  revelation  it  brings 
of  human  values  and  of  divine  forces,  and  with  the 
powers  that  go  forth  from  it  for  the  re-creation  of  hu- 
man life,  constitute  the  best  assurance  we  have  or  can 
have  of  the  Immortal  life.  In  His  life  the  reality  of 
the  world  of  the  spirit  Is  so  evidently  seen  as  to  be 
above  denial.  Immortality  belongs  to  the  things  that 
are  in  their  nature  eternal,  to  God,  to  truth,  to  duty,  to 
goodness;  and  the  only  Immortality  which  has  worth 
and  is  to  be  desired  is  that  which  Is  attested  by  the  real- 
ity of  these  things  and  attained  by  living  in  fellowship 
and  agreement  with  them.  Paul  knows  this  world  of 
the  spirit,  Its  supreme  excellence  and  beauty,  its  joy  and 
its  power.  He  has  seen  it  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  is  convinced  because  of  Him  that  it  Is  destined  to 
prevail,  and  that  It  is  the  safe  and  abiding  dwelling- 
place  of  all  who  choose  to  make  it  their  home. 

Paul's  hope  for  life  after  death  rests  then  ultimately 
upon  his  present  dying  and  living  with  Christ ;  that  Is, 
upon  his  present  experience  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  re- 
making his  nature  after  Its  own  likeness.  We  may  not 
understand  best  what  this  meant  by  the  more  mystical 
expressions  of  it  (Gal.  3:  20;  2  Cor.  3:  17-18;  Rom. 
6:  2-11;  8:  9-11),  characteristic  though  these  are  of 
Paul's  mind.  The  real  contents  of  this  view  of  life, 
which  Paul  knows  to  be  divine  and  therefore  undy- 
ing, can  be  understood  best  by  his  description  of  his 


256        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

own  character,  purposes,  and  condtict  given,  in  defense 
of  his  ministry,  not  in  boasting  or  self-interest,  in 
1  Thessalonians  2:  1-12,  and  especially  in  2  Corin- 
thians 10-13;  and  in  his  account  of  the  fruit  of  the 
spirit,  'Move,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  kindness, 
goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  temperance"  (Gal. 
6:  22-23;  comp.  Col.  3:  12-14;  Rom.  12)  ;  and  in  his 
judgments  as  to  the  relative  value  of  those  gifts  of  the 
spirit  which  were  to  early  Christianity  evidences  of 
God's  indwelling  in  man,  and  so  of  man's  sharing  in 
the  immortal  nature;  Paul  subjects  them  all  to  the  test 
of  Christ-likeness,  and  makes  love  therefore  the  test  of 
the  value  and  reality  of  the  rest,  and  the  greatest  of  the 
three  that  are  destined  to  abide  (1  Cor.  12-14). 

According  to  Paul's  experience  the  spirit  which  creates 
these  divine  effects  in  human  lives  and  is  the  present 
evidence  and  possession  of  eternal  life  is  not  the  divine 
part  of  human  nature  as  such,  but  has  come  into  human 
life  through  an  historical  event,  the  life,  death  and 
resurrection  of  an  historical  person.  This  Spirit  of 
God  is  the  spirit  of  Christ;  it  is  Christ  Himself  as  He 
takes  possession  of  men  and  becomes  their  life,  their 
new  self;  and  the  nature  of  this  spirit  is  Divine  Love. 
Man  shares  this  divine  nature  only  by  the  gift  of  the 
love  of  God;  so  that  life  beyond  death  is  assured  and 
created  In  man  by  the  eternal  love  of  God  manifested 
and  given  to  us  in  Christ.  Nothing — not  death  itself 
— can  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ,  the  love  of 
God  which  is  In  Christ.  This  Is  the  ultimate  ground 
of  Paul's  confidence.  But  love  can  be  given  only  as 
love ;  It  can  be  received  only  by  those  who  love.  The 
work  of  love  Is  to  create  lovers,  says  Royce.  If  the 
divine  love  Is  the  source  and  power  and  nature  of  man's 
eternal  life  then  the  conditions  and  purpose  and  goal 
of  that  life  must  be  interpreted  In  accordance  with  the 


PAUL'S  BELIEF  IN  LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH    257 

nature  of  love,  the  mind  of  Christ.  This  is  Paul's 
guiding  principle  throughout.  The  future  life  can  be 
hoped  for  only  as  it  is  now  practiced  and  attained  by 
likeness  to  Christ.  This  Oneness  of  Christians  with 
Christ  which  is  both  Christ's  effect  in  them  and  their 
following  of  Him,  is  described  and  urged  too  clearly 
and  constantly  by  Paul  to  leave  any  doubt  that  he 
means  by  it  the  actual  character  of  the  actual  Jesus. 
Likeness  to  Christ  is  not  a  law  which  if  one  obey  he 
will  receive  life  after  death  as  his  reward.  It  is  already 
that  life;  and  one  possesses  it  only  by  dying  and  living 
with  Christ,  dying  now  to  sin,  and  rising  to  newness  of 
life. 

V  But  love  cannot  be  a  thing  given  by  one  and  received 
by  another.  It  is  received  only  when  it  is  given  back, 
or  given  forth.  Mutuality  and  cooperation  are  in- 
volved  in  the  very  nature  of  love.  There  is  a  loss  of 
self  in  love  which  is  nevertheless  the  finding  or  gaining 
of  self.  Paul's  answer  to  our  most  pressing  cjuestion, 
that  which  concerns  the  permanence  of  personality, 
would  be,  we  may  be  sure,  determined,  as  all  else  is,  by 
the  nature  of  love.  Since  love  is  a  relationship  be- 
tween persons,  Paul  clings,  as  we  have  seen,  to  that 
''  spiritual  body,"  both  for  Christ  and  for  all  who  are 
Christ's,  which  meant  to  him  the  continuance  of  dis- 
tinction and  individuality.  Yet  Paul  knows  that  it  is 
not  according  to  love,  or  according  to  Christ,  to  seek 
one's  own,  either  for  this  life  or  for  the  life  to  come. 
When  Christ  lives  in  him,  the  "  I  "  no  longer  lives 
(Gal.  2:  20).  Love  destroys  the  self  in  every  sense  in 
which  it  involves  selfish  assertion  and  separateness. 
Oneness,  not  division,  is  the  creation  of  love.  For 
those  who  have  put  on  Christ  "  there  can  be  neither 
Jew  nor  Greek  .  .  .  bond  nor  free  .  .  .  male  nor 
female;  for  ye  are  all  one  (man)  in  Christ  Jesus" 


258       KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

(Gal.  3:  28).  The  immortality  that  is  according  to 
love  would  seem  to  require  both  the  saving  and  the  loss 
of  individuality,  Its  saving  in  and  through  its  loss.  He 
that  would  find  his  life  shall  lose  it,  and  he  that  loses 
his  life  shall  save  it.  That  Paul  understands  this  para- 
dox is  evident  (2  Cor.  4:  7-18;  6:  3-10)  ;  but  perhaps 
nowhere  more  strikingly  shown  than  in  what  he  says 
of  the  final  purpose  of  the  risen  life  of  Christ  Himself. 
**A11  things  are  yours;  whether  Paul,  or  Apollos,  or 
Cephas,  or  the  world,  or  life,  or  death,  or  things  pres- 
ent, or  things  to  come ;  all  are  yours ;  but  ye,  Christ's ; 
but  Christ,  God's"  (1  Cor.  3:  21-23).  Christ  rises 
to  Lordship,  and  must  reign,  till  He  has  put  all  His 
enemies  under  His  feet,  death  last  of  all ;  but  "  when 
all  things  have  been  subjected  unto  him,  then  shall  the 
Son  also  himself  be  subjected  to  him  that  did  subject 
all  things  unto  him,  that  God  may  be  all  in  all "  (1  Cor. 
15:  20-28). 

The  final  place  of  individual  personalities  will  be 
that  which  is  determined  by  the  nature  of  love,  the 
nature  of  God.  Paul's  doctrine  of  Immortality  is  not 
a  doctrine  of  self-assertion  or  self-centered  desire. 
Christ  means  to  him  the  opposite  of  this.  ''  Ye  are 
not  your  own."  "  He  died  for  all,  that  they  which  live 
should  no  longer  live  unto  themselves."  "  For  none 
of  us  liveth  to  himself,  and  none  dieth  to  himself.  For 
whether  we  live,  we  live  unto  the  Lord ;  or  whether  we 
die,  we  die  unto  the  Lord;  whether  we  live  therefore, 
or  die,  we  are  the  Lord's." 


X 

IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL 
Benjamin  Wisner  Bacon 

I.     The  Conflict  of  Christian  Belief  in  the 
Period  after  Paul 

IN  the  lecture  on  Immortality  in  Synoptic  Teach- 
ing you  were  reminded  that  these  writings  have 
a  twofold  significance:  (1)  in  the  record  which 
they  preserve  of  the  teaching  and  influence  of  Jesus; 
(2)  as  products  of  the  church  life  of  the  sub-apostolic 
age,  in  the  evidence  they  afford  of  contemporary  ideas 
in  the  Church.  By  far  the  greatest  influence  of  which 
we  have  any  record  on  the  further  definition  of  Chris- 
tian doctrine  on  this  vital  subject  in  a  period  when 
closer  definition  was  doubly  unavoidable  was  the  Apos- 
tle Paul.  He  alone  in  the  apostolic  circle  was  qualified 
by  education  as  well  as  mental  capacity  to  meet  Jewish 
opposition,  whether  in  the  form  of  Sadducean  scepti- 
cism or  Pharisean  sneers  at  the  apparitions  on  which 
the  Christian  brotherhood  based  its  faith.  More  im- 
portant still,  Paul  was  the  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  par 
eminence,  and  invariably  the  issue  on  which  Judaism 
came  into  most  violent  and  incessant  conflict  with  Greek 
religious  thought  was  the  doctrine  of  resurrection. 
What  we  have  really  to  consider  therefore  is  Christian 
belief  as  affected  by  Paul. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  Greek,  if  he  gave  any  thought 
259 


260       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

at  all  to  the  future  life,  was  almost  inevitably  a  believer 
in  immortality.  He  conceived  the  soul  as  leaving  the 
body  at  death  for  good  and  all,  and  passing  through  the 
grave  to  another  v^orld.  In  the  case  of  the  righteous 
this  other  v^orld  would  be  a  blessed  one,  but  in  no  case 
would  there  be  any  return  to  the  body  and  its  relations 
with  this  world.  In  some  exceptional  cases,  as  in  the 
Alexandrian-Jewish  writing  known  as  Fourth  Macca- 
bees, and  in  the  New  Testament  the  almost  equally 
Alexandrian  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  Jewish  thought 
has  been  so  far  swerved  by  Greek  influence  from  its, 
basic  Judaism  as  to  acquiesce  in  this  Greek  idea  of 
mere  immortality,  with  no  trace  of  the  characteristic 
national  idea  of  resurrection,  or  return  from  beyond 
the  grave  to  resume  relations  with  this  world  (more 
especially  the  Holy  Land  of  Palestine  and  its  "  City  of 
the  Great  King  "),  in  a  body  more  or  less  adjusted  to 
the  new  conditions  according  as  the  particular  believer 
found  himself  able  to  conceive  them.  The  general 
rule,  however,  is  the  following:  Every  Jew  not  a  com- 
plete Sadducee  accepts  the  doctrine  of  a  "  world  to 
come.''  He  does  so,  however,  only  on  condition  that 
it  provide  in  some  way  for  the  fulfillment  of  the  na- 
tional messianic  ideal,  and  this  seemed  to  almost  all  to 
involve  a  return  to  Jerusalem  in  the  body. 

The  question,  What  body?  was  the  chief  subject  of 
debate.  It  might  be  a  glory-body  of  light-substance, 
like  that  of  which  the  sun  and  stars  are  supposed  to 
consist.  It  might  be  a  kind  of  transfigured  flesh,  cor- 
responding in  outward  appearance  with  the  earthly, 
but  otherwise  "  like  the  angels,''  who  were  regarded  as 
immortal  and  uni-sexual.  It  must  be  a  real  body,  else 
there  could  be  no  real  dwelling  with  Messiah  in  Jeru- 
salem "  as  the  prophets  Ezekiel  and  Isaiah  and  others 
declare  " ;  and  to  deny  this  by  saying  that  ''  there  is  no 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    261 

resurrection  of  the  dead,  but  men's  souls  when  they 
die  are  taken  to  heaven  "  is  "  to  blaspheme  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob." 

Usually  the  crudeness  of  the  Jewish  believer's  doc- 
trine of  the  nature  of  that  resurrection  body  was  in 
direct  proportion  to  the  intensity  of  his  faith  in  the 
messianic  New  Jerusalem  predicted  by  *'  Ezekiel, 
Isaiah  and  others."  A  few  Hellenistic  Jews,  less  con- 
cerned fof  a  literal  dwelling  in  Palestine,  had  relin- 
quished, as  we  have  seen,  even  the  last  vestige  of  a 
doctrine  of  return  from  the  grave.  Most,  if  hard 
pressed  by  Sadducean  or  Gentile  ridicule  of  a  doctrine 
which  demanded  the  continuation  of  earthly  bodies  and 
relationships  under  super-terrestrial  conditions,  took 
the  usual  Oriental  means  of  escape  from  a  dilemma  by 
compromise.  Both  views  are  right,  but  we  must  have 
first  one  and  then  the  other.  First  Jehovah's  special 
promise  of  the  victorious  reign  of  Messiah  with  His 
people  in  Jerusalem  must  be  fulfilled;  after  that, 
''  when  he  shall  have  put  all  things  in  subjection  under 
his  feet,"  Messiah  will  "  deliver  up  the  kingdom  to 
him  who  put  all  things  in  subjection  to  him,  that  God 
may  be  all  in  all."  Our  own  Christian  Apocalypse 
makes  the  duration  of  this  reign  of  Messiah  in  Jerusa- 
lem 1,000  years,  and  this  view  became  dominant  in  the 
post-apostolic  Church  among  all  who  accepted  the  au- 
thority of  the  book.  The  nearly  contemporary  Jewish 
apocalypse  of  2  Esdras  fixes  its  duration  at  400  years, 
after  which  "my  Son  Messiah  will  die  and  all  that 
have  the  breath  of  life.  .  ,  .  And  after  seven 
days  the  world,  that  yet  awaketh  not,  shall  be  raised 
up,  and  whatever  is  corruptible  shall  die."  The  Most 
High  then  executes  the  general  judgment  (2  Esdras 
7:29ff.). 

Opposition  to  "  those  who  deny  the  resurrection  and 


262       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  Judgment "  ^  went  so  far  in  the  second  century  that 
the  baptismal  confession  which  we  call  "  the  Apostles' 
Creed  "  actually  chooses  the  term  ''  resurrection  of  the 
flesh  '*  (dvd(Tra(7t?  r^9  (Tapxa?)  m  preference  to  "  resur- 
rection of  the  body  "  as  we  moderns  unwarrantably 
translate  it.  Justin,  as  we  have  seen,  excommuni- 
cates those  who  reject  the  idea  of  the  millennial  reign 
in  Jerusalem  on  the  ground  that  they  make  the  God  of 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  faithless  to  His  promise. 
Justin  simply  ignores  the  teaching  of  Paul.  2  Peter, 
who  attacks  the  same  heretics,  admits  that  in  Paul's 
epistles  there  are  some  things  "  hard  to  be  understood," 
but  declares  that  it  is  the  "  ignorant  and  unsteadfast " 
who  "  wrest  them  to  their  own  destruction,"  while 
Irenseus,  who  tells  us  plainly  that  the  Pauline  utterance 
in  debate  was  the  teaching  in  1  Corinthians  15:  50, 
"  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God, 
neither  doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption,"  finds  a 
way  to  harmonize  the  Pauline  dicta  with  current  or- 
thodoxy. 

Thus  in  their  loyalty  to  the  primary  Jewish  principle 
of  the  millennial  reign,  on  which  Jesus  had  built,  the 
second  century  Fathers  certainly  went  as  far  as  it  is 
possible  to  go  without  repudiating  the  Pauline  principle 
altogether.  I  am  not  sure,  however,  that  they  went 
quite  as  far  as  some  modern  preachers  who  have  built 
up  a  great  reputation  by  the  easy  method  of  "  out- 
Herodlng  Herod  "  in  their  zeal  for  orthodoxy.  The 
second  century  "  chiliasts,"  or  "  millenarians,"  as  they 
came  to  be  called,  insisted  that  we  must  wear  bodies  of 
flesh  for  the  first  thousand  years  of  our  resurrection 
life.  After  that,  as  2  Esdras  has  it,  we  "  escape  from 
that  which  is  corruptible  and  inherit  that  which  is  to 
come,  receiving  a  large  room,  with  joy  and  immortal- 

^Bp.  of  Polycarp,  vii.  i  {ca.  115  A.  D.). 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    263 

ity,  our  faces  shining  as  the  sun,  our  bodies  made  like 
unto  the  light  of  the  stars,  being  henceforth  incor- 
cuptible." '  If  I  understand  correctly  the  modern  hy- 
per-orthodox they  expect  us  to  resume  our  bodies  of 
flesh  for  good  and  all. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  irrepressible  this  conflict  of 
opinion  regarding  the  nature  of  the  resurrection  body 
would  be  from  the  very  beginnings  of  the  faith,  even 
if  we  did  not  have  the  explicit  testimony  of  Paul  at  a 
date  a  score  of  years  before  our  earliest  Gospel,  that 
some  in  the  Corinthian  church  were  beginning  to  ask : 
"  With  what  body  do  they  come  ?  "  It  would  be 
strange  if  we  did  not  have  reflections  of  it  in  the 
Synoptic  writings,  still  more  strange  if  a  comparison 
of  the  Synoptic  writings  with  the  fourth  Gospel  did 
not  reveal  something  of  contrast.  For  the  Synoptic 
writings  are  fundamentally  Semitic,  Palestinian,  and 
Petrine,  however  adapted  in  their  present  Greek  form 
to  the  use  of  Pauline  churches,  whereas  the  Ephesian 
Gospel  comes  to  us  as  an  almost  pure  product  of 
Pauline  Christianity  of  the  second  generation  in  Greek- 
speaking  Christendom. 


11.     The  Infusion  of  Synoptic  Story  with 
Higher  Values 

I  must  take  up  first  a  phenomenon  presented  by  the 
Synoptic  writings  which  I  have  elsewhere  ^  designated 
"  the  Paulinizing  of  Petrine  tradition."  It  is  the  least 
cumbrous  term  I  can  find  to  describe  the  process  by 
which  Synoptic  tradition  was  made  the  vehicle  of 
ideas  founded  on  the  spiritual  Christ  of  Paul's  faith. 
The  tradition  really  does  go  back  as  the  earHest  wit- 

^  II  Esdr.  7 :  97. 

*  Jesus  and  Paid,  New  York,  1920,  pp.  154-167. 


264       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

nesses  maintain,  to  memorabilia  of  the  preaching  of 
Peter.  But  it  was  compelled  to  adjust  itself  to  the 
conditions  of  the  sub-apostolic  age.  It  took  up  in  a 
form  characteristic  of  Jewish  teachers  and  intelligible 
in  proportion  as  we  familiarize  ourselves  with  these 
Synagogue  methods,  such  elements  of  Pauline  teach- 
ing as  were  absolutely  indispensable  if  its  preaching 
was  to  have  any  effect  in  the  Greek-speaking  world. 

Three  elements  of  Pauline  teaching  were  conspicu- 
ously such  as  to  make  some  such  adjustment  inevitable. 
In  every  case  we  find  the  method  adopted  to  be  that  of 
Jewish  midrash  (homiletic  interpretation),'  more  par- 
ticularly that  of  vision  and  voice  from  heaven  (Bath 
Kol).  For  the  Oriental,  who  has  little  capacity  for 
abstract  thinking,  makes  good  the  deficiencies  of  an 
unphilosophical  vocabulary  by  larger  resort  to  the  con- 
crete expressions  of  symbolism.  Instead  of  saying, 
"  I  came  to  perceive,"  he  says,  "  The  veil  was  removed 

*  See  the  chapter  entitled  "The  Midrash  and  its  Poetry"  In 
Short  History  of  Jewish  Literature,  I.  Abrahams,  1906.  I  will 
quote  Abrahams'  definition.  "Midrash  ('Study,'  'Inquiry')  was 
in  the  first  instance  an  explanation  of  the  Scriptures.  The  ex- 
planation is  often  the  clear,  natural  exposition  of  the  text,  and 
it  enforces  rules  of  conduct  both  ethical  and  ritual.  Midrash 
often  penetrates  below  the  surface ;  and,  while  seeming  to  depart 
from  the  letter  of  the  text,  attempts  to  reach  its  spirit.  In  the 
Talmudic  phrase  Midrash  is  a  hammer  which  wakes  to  shining 
life  the  sparks  slumbering  in  the  rock.  The  historical  and  moral 
traditions  which  clustered  round  the  incidents  and  characters  of 
the  Bible  soon  received  a  more  vivid  setting.  The  poetical  sense 
of  the  Rabbis  expressed  itself  in  a  vast  and  beautiful  array  of 
legendary  additions  to  the  Bible,  but  the  additions  are  always 
devised  with  a  moral  purpose,  to  probe  motive  or  to  analyze 
character,  to  give  point  to  a  preacher's  homily  or  to  inspire  the 
imagination  of  the  audience  with  nobler  fancies.  Besides  being 
expository,  the  Midrash  is,  therefore,  also  didactic  and  poetical, 
the  moral  being  conveyed  in  the  guise  of  a  narrative  (Haggada), 
amplifying  and  developing  the  contents  of  Scripture.  The  Mid- 
rash gives  the  results  of  that  deep  searching  of  the  Scriptures 
which  became  second  nature  with  the  Jews,  and  it  also  represents 
the  changes  and  expansions  of  ethical  and  theological  ideals  as 
applied  to  a  changing  and  growing  life." 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    265 

from  the  eyes  of  my  heart,"  "  I  saw  in  vision  what 
was  transpiring  in  heaven,  or  in  the  invisible  world." 
Where  it  is  a  question  of  matters  that  appeal  to  the 
ear,  rather  than  to  the  eye,  he  says,  "  My  inward  ear 
was  opened,"  "  God  sent  me  an  echo — a  *  daughter,' 
— of  His  own  voice."  Very  often  both  methods  are 
combined  and  the  rabbi  says,  "  I  saw  in  vision,  so  and 
so,  and  heard  a  Bath  Kol  saying,  so  and  so."  Pinner, 
in  his  Introduction  to  the  Talmud,  has  collected  more 
than  thirty  cases  of  this  mode  of  expression,  all  of 
which  naturally  belong  to  the  haggada,  because  unlike 
the  halakha  the  haggada  has  no  legal  authority  but 
aims  solely  at  edification  of  the  people.  Inevitably 
Bath  Kol  fell  into  disrepute,  because  this  kind  of  con- 
firmation is  too  easily  invoked  in  support  of  one's  own 
opinion.  In  no  less  than  three  different  passages  of 
the  Talmud  the  saying  of  R.  Judah  quoting  R.  Sam- 
uel is  repeated :  "  Every  day  there  goes  forth  a  Bath 
Kol  saying,  *  So  and  so's  daughter  is  intended  for  so 
and  so,' "  which  may  be  interpreted :  "  Every  time  a 
young  couple  are  betrothed  they  are  convinced  the 
match  was  made  in  heaven."  The  story  of  the  decline 
is  told  quite  fully,  with  many  examples  by  Dr.  Edwin 
A.  Abbott  in  Chapter  III  of  his  volume  Prom  Letter 
to  Spirit  (1903)  entitled  ''  Bath  Kol  on  its  Defence." 
It  is  perhaps  something  more  than  a  coincidence 
that  the  downfall  of  this  form  of  appeal  to  the  super- 
natural comes  just  at  the  period  when  the  Tannaim,  the 
rebuilders  of  Judaism  under  the  Torah  after  the  over- 
throw of  Jerusalem,  were  grappling  with  Christianity. 
For  the  inroads  of  Christianity  into  the  ancestral  faith 
were  to  a  large  degree  based  on  the  appeal  to  miracle 
and  revelations  from  heaven.  The  following  incident 
is  related,  as  Schwab,  the  editor  of  the  Talmud  in 
the  French  translation,   correctly   remarks,  to  show 


266       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

that  miracle  and  voices  from  heaven  were,  as  we 
say,  "  played  out."  The  story  and  connected  say- 
ing "  We  do  not  care  for  Bath  Kol  '*  is  appealed  to 
over  and  over  again  in  both  Babylonian  and  Jerusalem 
Talmud  to  establish  the  principle  that  matters  of  law 
(halakha,  in  which  cases  of  conscience  are  decided) 
are  to  be  settled  by  vote  of  the  majority,  not  by  appeal 
to  the  supernatural.  The  passage  of  Scripture  in- 
voked was  Exodus  23:  2,  which  our  versions  render 
*'  Turn  aside  after  a  multitude  to  wrest  justice,"  but 
which  the  Targum  of  Onkelos,  punctuating  differently, 
renders:  "After  the  many  {i.  e.  the  majority)  shall 
thou  fulfill  judgment."  As  an  example  of  real  rab- 
binic wit,  as  well  as  mingled  sanity  and  boldness  of 
decision,  it  is  well  worth  quoting.  R.  Eliezer,  the 
greatest  of  the  college  of  sages  at  Jamnia  early  in  the 
second  century,  had  been  overruled  by  his  colleagues 
on  a  question  regarding  the  purification  of  a  certain 
kind  of  oven.  He  refused  to  yield  the  point  and  began 
an  appeal  to  miracle.  "  Let  this  carob-tree  prove, 
said  he,  that  the  halakha  (decision)  prevails  as  I 
state."  The  carob-tree  was  thereupon  miraculously 
thrown  off  to  a  distance  of  one  hundred  ells,  or  ac- 
cording to  others  four  hundred  ells.  "  But  they  said: 
'The  carob  proves  nothing.'  Again  he  said:  'Then 
let  the  spring  of  water  prove  that  this  halakha  pre- 
vails.' The  water  then  began  to  run  backward.  But 
again  the  sages  said,  *  This  proves  nothing.'  Again 
he  said:  '  Then  let  the  walls  of  the  college  prove  that 
I  am  right.'  The  walls  of  the  college  thereupon  were 
shaken  till  they  were  about  to  fall.''    But  R.  Joshua 

"^  The  story  of  the  falling?  walls  appears  in  several  connections. 
See  Her  ford,  Christianity  in  Talmud  and  Midrash,  p.  1 12 
(Sank.  2Sb),  and  cf.  Iren^eus,  Haer.  Ill,  iii.  4  (Polycarp's  en- 
counter with  Cerinthus  in  the  bath). 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    287 

rebuked  them  saying,  If  the  sages  of  this  college  are 
discussing  a  halakha  what  business  have  you  to  inter- 
fere?** Eliezer's  last  and  supreme  appeal  was  this: 
" '  Let  it  be  announced  by  the  heavens  that  the 
halakha  prevails  according  to  my  statement/  Here- 
upon a  Bath  Kol  was  heard,  saying:  '  Why  do  you 
quarrel  with  R.  Eliezer,  who  is  always  right  in  his 
decisions  ? '  But  the  indomitable  R.  Joshua  was  ready 
even  for  this.  He  arose  and  proclaimed  "  The  Law  is 
not  in  the  heavens,"  quoting  the  same  passage  that 
Paul  quotes  in  Romans  10:  6  from  Deuteronomy 
30:  12ff.  in  support  of  the  doctrine  that  the  inward 
monitor,  the  law  of  which  Moses  had  said  "  It  is  nigh 
thee,  in  thy  heart  and  in  thy  mouth  "  is  a  safer  guide 
in  matters  of  conscience  than  even  alleged  voices  from 
heaven.  You  recall  that  Paul  also  insists  that  even  a 
revelation  uttered  "  in  the  Spirit "  in  the  Christian  as- 
sembly must  be  judged  in  accordance  with  the  moral 
sense  of  the  brotherhood/ 

You  will  think  that  the  comment  of  the  still  later 
rabbis  on  this  celebrated  decision  of  the  Tannaim  goes 
quite  too  far  in  the  direction  of  irreverence;  but  the 
insight  we  get  into  Jewish  haggada,  and  its  method 
of  pointing  a  moral  with  a  tale,  would  not  be  complete 
if  I  stopped  at  this  point.  I  will  continue  with  the 
comment:  ''  How  is  this  to  be  understood?  "  said  R. 
Jeremiah:  "  It  means.  The  Torah  was  already  given  to 
us  on  the  mountain  of  Sinai,  and  zve  do  not  care  for  a 
voice  from  heaven,  as  it  reads  (Ex.  23:  2),  *  After  the 
majority  shalt  thou  fulfill  judgment.*  "  R.  Nathan 
met  Elijah  the  prophet  (who  was  believed  to  stand  in 
the  presence  of  God)  and  questioned  him:  What  did 
the  Holy  One,  blessed  be  Pie,  when  R.  Joshua  made 

*i   Cor.   12:3;   i4:32f. ;   i  Thess.  5:19-21.     See  also  i  John 
4:1-3  and  Didache  xi.  7ff. 


268        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

this  decision ?  Elijah  rejoined:  *'  He  laughed  and  said, 
*  My  children  have  overruled  me,  my  children  have 
overruled  me/  " 

The  man  who  hears  or  reads  such  midrash  as  this 
is  supposed  to  have  too  much  common  sense  to  take  it 
literally.  He  knov^s  that  the  story  means  only  that  if 
we  could  meet  some  one  who  could  tell  us  just  how 
God  in  heaven  feels  about  a  decision  that  in  mat- 
ters of  conscience  we  go  by  the  inward  light  even 
against  Scripture  itself,  we  should  learn  that  the  Al- 
mighty is  delighted  with  such  evidence  of  moral  cour- 
age. 

This  may  seem  a  long  digression,  but  I  do  not  know 
how  to  prepare  you  otherwise  for  the  proper  under- 
standing of  the  midrashoth  of  the  Synoptic  writers, 
which  have  had  the  misfortune  to  be  interpreted  by 
readers  ignorant  of  Synagogue  methods  of  teaching 
ever  since  they  were  translated  into  Greek.  I  have 
said  that  we  have  three  outstanding  examples  of  mid- 
rash  in  Petrine  tradition,  and  that  all  three  aim  to  put 
in  figures  which  appeal  to  the  eye  and  ear  doctrines 
which  in  the  language  of  Paul  are  addressed  to  the  un- 
derstanding. Two  of  these  instances  I  shall  cite  only 
by  way  of  illustration  of  the  method.  The  third  is 
directly  concerned  with  the  subject  we  have  in  hand, 
so  that  I  must  dwell  upon  it  more  at  length. 

IIL     The  Three  Midrashoth  of  Petrine 
Narrative 

1.  We  know  from  Galatians  2:  10-21  how  dispro- 
portionate a  part  was  played  in  early  Christianity  by 
the  question  whether  Jews  who  had  always  abstained 
from  foods  forbidden  by  Moses  as  "  common  "  or 
"  unclean  "  might  under  any  circumstances  disregard 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    269 

the  commandments  in  question.  We  also  know  that 
Paul  came  to  open  rupture  with  Peter,  Barnabas,  and 
all  the  Jewish  element  in  the  church  at  Antioch,  by  in- 
sisting that  when  it  was  a  question  of  table-fellowship 
with  their  Gentile  brethren,  Jewish  believers  must  dis- 
regard the  Mosaic  distinctions  whether  it  suited  them 
or  not.  Our  Book  of  Acts  has  two  solutions  of  this 
question  not  really  reconcileable  with  one  another,  and 
neither  of  them  reconcileable  with  Paul.  Luke's  own 
solution  is  given  in  the  story  of  the  Apostolic  Council 
in  chapter  fifteen  in  the  four  "  decrees."  This  is,  as 
Lightfoot  properly  called  it,  "a  compromise."  But 
Luke  has  embodied  at  an  earlier  point  in  his  story  the 
account  of  a  much  broader  and  more  comprehensive 
settlement  through  a  Conclave  at  Jerusalem  whereat 
Peter  obtains  the  unanimous  decision  of  the  Church 
on  the  basis  of  vision  and  Bath  Kol,  This  might  be 
called  a  Pauline  settlement  if  it  were  not  attributed  to 
Peter;  for  it  maintains  that  the  distinctions  of  meats 
are  not  of  God,  that  "  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth 
God  and  worketh  righteousness  Is  accepted  of  him  " 
without  national  distinctions,  and  even  that  Peter 
himself  was  right  in  "  going  in  to  men  uncircumcised 
and  eating  with  them  "  (Acts  10:  1-11:  18).  We  are 
accustomed  to  pass  over  the  real  bearing  of  the  vision 
and  Bath  Kol  in  which  Peter's  scruples  against  eating 
anything  "  common  or  unclean  "  are  swept  away  as 
mere  human  distinctions  ("  what  God  hath  cleansed, 
make  not  thou  common")  by  treating  the  revelation 
as  a  sort  of  anticipation,  or  preliminary  lesson,  of 
which  the  real  significance  is  to  appear  later.  Doubt- 
less the  compiler,  Luke,  so  Intended,  but  the  Intrinsic 
meaning  Is  not  so  limited,  nor  can  Peter  have  had  this 
experience.  The  subsequent  Jerusalem  Council  could 
not  have  imposed  the  limitations  which  It  did  If  this 


270       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

broader  decision  had  come  beforehand,  nor  could  Paul 
have  spoken  to  Peter,  or  Peter  have  behaved  as  he  did 
at  Antioch,  if  he  had  previously  been  vouchsafed  this 
settlement  of  the  Vv^hole  question  on  the  broadest  pos- 
sible principles,  by  divine  authority  seconded  by  the 
unanimous  approval  of  the  Church.  The  story  of 
Peter's  vision  and  Bath  Kol  at  Joppa  is,  therefore, 
not  historical  but  a  midrash.  It  probably  belongs  to 
an  early  account  (perhaps  from  Jewish  Christian  cir- 
cles) of  how  Peter,  not  Paul,  carried  the  Gospel  to  the 
Gentiles.^  It  aims  to  explain  how  Peter  was  led  to  see 
the  futility  of  his  scruples  about  distinctions  of  meats, 
and  how  it  was  divinely  revealed  to  him  and  to  the 
Church  as  a  whole,  that  there  is  no  distinction  in  God's 
sight  either  of  meats  or  persons.  We  could  hardly 
expect  that  the  tradition  of  Peter's  missionary  career 
would  preserve  the  actual  story  which  Paul  tells,  but 
which  Acts  suppresses,  of  the  public  altercation  at 
Antioch.  It  has  a  shorter  and  (for  the  lay  hearer) 
better  and  simpler  way.  Peter  ultimately  did  come  to 
see  that  Paul  was  right  on  the  great  issue.  Or  at  least 
Peter's  followers  believed  he  had.  The  writer  of  Acts 
has  found  a  story  which  sets  forth  by  the  conventional 
midrashic  method  of  vision  and  Bath  Kol  how  Peter 
learned  the  right  view  of  things  on  occasion  of  a  cele- 
brated conversion  at  Csesarea.  For  the  narrator  at 
least  the  real  point  is  not  when  or  how  Peter  came  to 
see  the  truth,  but  that  he  did  see  it.  This  the  story 
makes  clear. 

2.  Another  element  of  Pauline  teaching  even  Jew- 
ish-Christian missionaries  would  find  it  necessary  to 
introduce  somehow,  abstract  as  It  is,  into  their  pre- 

"b  Cf.  Luke  5 :  l-io,  a  midrashic  expansion  of  Mark  i :  16-20,  in 
which  Peter  becomes  chief  agent  in  the  growth  of  the  Church 
through  Gentile  missions. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    271 

sentation  of  Jesus  as  Son  of  God,  and  not  mere  Son 
of  David.  It  is  the  doctrine  which  is  theologically  ex- 
pressed in  Colossians  1:  13-19  by  saying  that  Jesus 
was  God's  ''Beloved  Son,"  His  "image"  and  the 
"  first-born  of  the  creation,"  and  that  it  was  the  "  good- 
pleasure  "  (i.  e.  the  divine  decree  of  election)  that  the 
whole  "  fullness"  (of  the  divine  attributes),  the  7md- 
doth  or  dovdfisi'i  should  take  up  its  abode  in  Him. 
How  does  the  Gospel  of  Mark  express  this  very  ab- 
stract bit  of  Pauline  (and  Alexandrian)  theology? 
By  means  of  a  prologue  to  the  Gospel,  in  which  the 
reader,  conducted  as  it  were  behind  the  veil,  sees  what 
was  the  divinely  determined  beginning  of  Jesus'  career 
at  a  time  when  none  of  the  Twelve  had  yet  come  in 
contact  with  Him.  His  baptism  of  self-dedication  is 
accompanied  by  a  vision  and  Bath  Kol.  The  inward 
eye  is  opened  to  see  the  Divine  Spirit  descending  from 
heaven  to  take  up  its  abode  in  Jesus.  Spiritually  the 
voice  of  God  is  heard:  "  Thou  art  my  Son,  the  '  Be- 
loved,' my  *  good-pleasure '  was  fixed  upon  thee." 
Here  the  name  Beloved  ""  Son/'  corresponding  to  the 
Pauline  ''Son  of  God's  love,"  replaces  the  epithet 
"  Servant,"  which  early  passed  out  of  use  in  the 
Church.  Otherwise  the  Markan  midrash  simply  fol- 
lows the  Isaian  description  quoted  in  Matthew  12:  18 
(for  it  is  one  of  the  characteristics  of  midrash  as  far 
as  possible  to  follow  Old  Testament  language) :  "  Be- 
hold my  Servant  whom  I  have  chosen,  my  Beloved  in 
whom  my  soul  is  well  pleased:  I  will  put  my  Spirit 
upon  him,  and  he  shall  declare  judgment  to  the  Gen- 
tiles." I  suppose  that  even  Mark,  to  say  nothing  of 
later  Greek  evangelists  and  Interpreters,  may  have 
taken  this  story  of  vision  and  Bath  Kol  as  concrete 
fact,  perceptible  even  by  ordinary  bystanders.  And 
so  in  a  sense  does  the  composer  of  the  midrash,  when 


272       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

he  tells  of  the  descending  dove '  and  heavenly  Voice. 
He,  too,  tells  no  more  than  what  he  thinks  would  be 
perceived  if  we  had  spiritual  eyesight  and  hearing. 
But  he  does  not  mean  that  others  would  perceive  it. 
And  even  Mark  has  nothing  to  say  of  any  witness 
from  whom  the  story  was  derived.  When  we  consider 
the  story  in  itself  it  bears  every  mark  of  the  typical 
vision  and  Bath  Kol  by  which  the  contemporary  Syna- 
gogue teacher  tries  to  enlist  the  imagination  of  his 
hearers  to  apprehend  that  which  he  has  not  philosoph- 
ical language  to  express.  In  fact  if  you  only  under- 
stand it  this  is  the  simplest,  briefest  and  most  intelli- 
gible of  all  methods  of  conveying  the  thought. 

3.  "VVe  come  finally  to  our  third  instance  of  the  ap- 
plication of  midrash  in  a  case  which  could  not  possibly 
be  avoided  by  missionaries  attempting  to  define  the 
real  nature  of  the  deliverance  and  salvation  effected 
by  Jesus.  It  is  the  case  with  which  we  are  immediately 
concerned,  and  which  Paul  meets  in  such  detail  in  1 
Corinthians  15:  35ff.,  when  he  answers  the  question: 
'*  With  what  body  do  they  come  ?  "  I  refer  to  the 
story  of  the  Transfiguration. 

It  might  be  supposed  that  the  true  place  for  this 
revelation  to  '*  Peter  and  those  who  were  with  him  "  ' 
by  vision  and  Bath  Kol  would  be  after  the  crucifixion, 
when  Jesus  has  returned  from  Paradise  to  resume  for 
a  brief  time  His  intercourse  with  the  Twelve.  This  is 
actually  the  place  occupied  by  it  in  a  recently  discovered 
fragment   of   the   early   Petrine   tradition   called   the 

'  Symbol  of  the  yearning  Spirit  of  Redemptive  Wisdom  which 
broods  over  God's  people. 

•  There  is  some  reason  t'o  regard  this  Lncan  characterization  of 
the  witnesses  (Luke  9:32)  as  more  original  than  that  of  Mark. 
Our  second  evangelist  adds  on  this  and  a  few  occasions  of 
similar  significance  the  sons  of  Zclicdec  who  shared  Jesus'  cup 
of  martyrdom  (Mark  io:35ff.).  See  Bacon,  Fourth  Gospel  in 
Research  and  Debate,  1909,  chapter  V. 


IMMORTALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL     273 

Revelation,  or  Apocalypse  (i.  e.  the  unveiling)  of 
Peter.  I  will  transcribe  the  parallel  portion  of  the 
fragment,  which  of  course  dispenses  with  the  appara- 
tus of  vision  and  Bath  Kol  since  it  supposes  the  dis- 
ciples to  be  speaking  with  the  risen  Christ. 

''And  the  Lord  added  and  said:  Let  us  go  to  the 
mountain,  let  us  pray.  And  as  we  were  departing 
with  Him  we,  the  twelve  disciples,  entreated  that  He 
would  show  us  one  of  our  brethren  the  just  (or  "  jus- 
tified ")  who  have  departed  from  the  world,  that  we 
might  see  of  what  sort  they  are  as  respects  their  form, 
and  taking  courage  ourselves  might  encourage  the  men 
who  should  hear  us. 

"  And  as  we  were  praying,  suddenly  there  appeared 
two  men  standing  before  the  Lord,  upon  whom  we 
were  not  able  to  look.  For  a  radiance  as  of  the  sun 
proceeded  from  their  face  and  their  raiment  was 
glistening  such  as  eye  of  man  never  beheld;  for  neither 
mouth  can  tell  nor  heart  conceive  the  glory  with  which 
they  were  clothed  and  the  beauty  of  their  countenance. 
And  as  we  beheld  them  we  were  amazed,  for  their 
bodies  were  whiter  than  any  snow  and  more  ruddy 
than  any  rose,  and  the  ruddiness  of  them  mingled  with 
the  whiteness,  and  I  simply  cannot  describe  their 
beauty.  For  their  hair  curled  like  the  petals  of  a 
flower  and  fell  about  their  face  and  shoulders  like  a 
wreath  plaited  of  nard  and  many-coloured  flowers,  or 
like  a  rainbow  in  the  air.     Such  was  their  beauty. 

''  And  when  we  saw  their  splendour  we  were  amazed 
at  them,  because  they  had  appeared  suddenly.'*     And 

^"The  rabbis  taught:  Six  things  are  said  with  regard  to 
demons,  three  in  which  they  are  Hke  the  angels:  they  have  wings, 
they  float  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other,  and  they 
know  the  future.  In  three  they  are  like  men  (and  unlike  angels)  : 
they  eat  and  drink,  they  reproduce,  and  they  are  mortal."  Hagiga, 
Rodkinson,  B.  Talm.  Ill,  ii.  6,  p.  2,7-     Bodies  "like  the  angels" 


274        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

approaching  the  Lord  I  said:  '  Who  are  these?  '  He 
saith  to  me  '  These  are  your  brethren  the  just,  whose 
forms  you  desired  to  see/  And  I  said  to  Him,  '  And 
where  are  all  the  justified,  or  of  what  nature  is  the 
world  in  which  they  possess  so  great  glory  ?  *  And 
the  Lord  showed  me  a  great  region  outside  of  this 
world,  shining  with  surpassing  light,  and  the  air  of 
the  place  brilliant  with  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  its 
soil  blooming  with  unfading  flowers  and  full  of  per- 
fumes and  of  flowering  and  imperishable  plants  bear- 
ing blissful  fruit ;  and  so  great  was  the  bloom  of  it  that 
the  fragrance  was  wafted  even  unto  us. 

"  And  the  inhabitants  of  that  place  were  clad  with 
the  shining  raiment  of  angels,  and  their  clothing  was 
like  their  country.  And  angels  walked  about  with 
them,  and  the  glory  of  all  who  dwelt  there  was  equal, 
and  with  one  voice  they  praised  the  Lord  God,  re- 
joicing in  that  place.  This,  saith  the  Lord  to  us,  is  the 
country  of  your  high-priests,  the  justified." 

The  Apocalypse  of  Peter  draws  out  at  greater  length 
the  data  of  the  Markan  "  revelation  "  for  the  same 
purpose  that  our  so-called  Second  Epistle  of  Peter  em- 
ploys it  against  those  who  ''  denied  the  resurrection 
and  judgment."  Whether  it  depends  solely,  as  seems 
to  be  the  case  with  2  Peter,  on  our  own  canonical  Gos- 
pels; or  makes  use  of  the  same  Petrine  tradition  in 
some  partially  independent  form,  is  an  open  question. 
But  the  motive  for  the  development  is  obvious  to  all 
who  are  familiar  with  the  history  of  second  century 
debate  both  In  Jewish  and  Christian  circles  on  the 
nature  of  the  resurrection  body  and  its  abode  In  Para- 
dise."   The  use  made  of  the  Transfiguration  story  in 

in  respect  to  "appearing  suddenly"  where  the  owners  will  are 
ascribed  to  all  the  glorified.     Cf .  Luke  24 :  36 ;  John  20 :  26. 
"See  e.  g.  Irenacus,  Hacr.  V,  xxxiii-xxxvi. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL     275 

Apoc.  Petri  is  the  same  as  in  2  Peter  1:  16-18,  and  of 
itself  suffices  to  explain  the  transposition.  But  this  is 
not  the  principal  motive  of  the  evangelists'  story,  and 
the  principal  motive  shows  that  it  is  correctly  placed 
by  Mark,  in  spite  of  its  breaking  the  connection,  as  we 
shall  see. 

Mark  9:  2-10  is  interjected  into  the  midst  of  the 
story  of  Peter's  recognition  of  Jesus  as  "  the  Christ 
of  God  "  and  Jesus'  rebuke  of  his  rejection  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  cross.  It  is  interjected  for  a  reason  closely 
analogous  to  that  which  brings  in  the  story  of  the 
vision  at  Joppa  in  Acts  10:  Iff.  The  evangelist  wishes 
the  reader  to  understand  that  these  disciples  who  had 
shared  the  "  hardness  of  heart "  of  their  fellow-coun- 
trymen in  rejecting  a  redemption  according  to  the 
things  of  God,  once  their  spiritual  perception  had  been 
awakened,  began  to  see  that  the  true,  divine  redemp- 
tion which  the  Christ  should  bring  must  be  a  redemp- 
tion from  the  corruptible  world  into  the  glory  of  Para- 
dise. This  redemption  could  only  be  by  Jesus'  own 
entrance  through  death  into  the  glory  which  in  Jewish 
belief  was  the  portion  of  Moses  and  Elijah,  the 
*'  translated  "  men,  who  in  the  "  traditions  of  the  El- 
ders "  quoted  by  Irenseus  from  Papias  are  called  "  the 
forerunners  of  immortality."  In  fact  they  were  be- 
lieved to  be  already  enjoying  by  special  dispensation  of 
God  the  glorified  conditions  of  the  messianic  age,  and 
to  be  destined  to  be  sent  from  Paradise  in  advance  of 
Messiah  as  His  "  witnesses."  In  2  Esdras  6:  26  it  is 
predicted  that  after  the  great  woes  of  the  last  times 
the  survivors  "  will  see  the  men  that  have  been  taken 
up,  who  have  not  tasted  death  from  their  birth." 
These  are  Moses  and  Elias,  whose  function  is  de- 
scribed, as  we  have  seen,  in  Revelation  11:  3-13.  The 
Markan  midrash   comes   in,   we   notice,   immediately 


276        KELIGION  AKD  THE  FUTUIiE  LIFE 

after  a  reference  to  a  similar  experiencing  of  the  pres- 
ent kingdom  without  '*  tasting  death  "  as  predestined 
for  "  some  of  those  that  stand  by."  This  shows  the 
real  nature  and  purpose  of  the  midrash.  If  Jesus 
and  those  who  follow  Him  are  destined  to  be  "  clothed 
upon  "  with  a  "  house  from  heaven  "  in  the  shape  of 
such  a  "  body  of  glory  "  as  the  heavenly  ones  wear  it 
is  folly  for  Jewish  unbelief  to  cling  to  a  Messiah  ''  ac- 
cording to  the  things  of  men."  It  is  like  asking  not 
only  Jesus,  but  Moses  and  Elias  also,  the  forerunners 
of  immortality,  to  come  back  to  earth,  abide  there, 
and  be  clothed  once  more  in  their  *'  earthly  house  of 
this  '  tabernacle.'  "  The  true  place  for  the  supplement, 
therefore,  is  just  that  which  it  occupies  in  our  Synop- 
tists;  because  the  object  for  which  2  Peter  and  Apoc. 
Petri  employ  it  is  only  secondary.  Primarily  it  is  con- 
cerned with  the  vindication  and  sublimation  of  the 
apostleship  of  Peter.  Its  motive  Is  substantially  the 
same  as  that  of  the  supplement  interjected  by  Matthew 
at  almost  the  same  point,  introducing  a  congratulation 
of  Peter  by  Jesus  on  the  *'  revelation  "  which  has  been 
made  to  him  from  heaven,  and  an  endowment  with 
supreme  authority  to  bind  and  loose  (Matt.  16:  17- 
19).  In  terms  corresponding  to  those  which  Paul  had 
employed  in  vindicating  his  apostleship  against  the 
Judaizers  as  "  not  from  flesh  and  blood  "  but  by  a  di- 
vine revelation  to  him  of  the  glorified  Christ,  Peter,  in 
the  Matthean  supplement,  is  made  Christ's  vicar.  The 
supplement  of  Mark  9:2-10  accomplishes  the  same 
object  by  giving  to  "  Peter  and  those  who  were  with 
him  "  an  experience  corresponding  to  that  which  Paul 
in  2  Corinthians  3:  6-4:  6  declared  to  be  the  basis  of 
the  divine  commission  of  all  *'  ministers  of  the  new 
covenant."  According  to  Paul  the  ambassadors  of  this 
greater  "  reconciliation  "  have  received  a  vision  even 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    277 

greater  than  that  which  transfigured  Moses  on  Sinai. 
They,  too,  have  beheld  ''  the  glory  of  God,"  the  forgiv- 
ing God  of  Exodus  34:  6f.,  in  the  face  of  the  glori- 
fied Christ.  Paul  even  maintains  on  this  ground  a 
doctrine  of  progressive  transmutation  of  the  flesh  into 
a  kind  of  glory-substance,  incapable  of  dissolution  and 
like  in  quality  to  the  "  body  of  glory  "  worn  by  the 
risen  Christ,  who  is  the  "  image  '*  of  God  (Phil.  3:  21 ; 
Rom.  8:  11,  29;  13:  3;  1  Cor.  15:  35-49).  Similarly 
Philo  at  the  close  of  his  Life  of  Moses  had  spoken  of 
Moses'  vision  of  God  in  Sinai  as  transfiguring  his 
body  by  fusing  all  its  elements  into  a  "  single  sunlike 
mind-substance,  in  preparation  for  immortality." 
"  We  who  have  seen  this  vision,"  says  Paul,  "  are 
transfigured  {jj-trap^pipobiizda)  by  it  *  from  glory  to 
glory,'  "  reflecting  as  a  mirror  the  glory  of  God,  which 
does  not  vanish,  as  from  the  face  of  Moses,  but  is  re- 
newed day  by  day,  so  that  while  the  outward  man  is 
decaying,  sufferings  and  hardship  breaking  down  the 
earthern  vessel,  "  we  know  that  if  our  earthly  house 
of  this  *  tabernacle  '  be  dissolved  we  have  a  building 
of  God,  eternal,  reserved  for  us  in  the  heavens,  with 
which  we  shall  ultimately  be  *  clothed  upon.'  "  This 
"  glorification "  by  "  conformation "  even  of  our 
mortal  bodies  into  the  likeness  of  Christ's  glory-body 
is  of  the  very  essence  of  Paul's  apostoHc  commission. 
It  is  as  much  a  part  of  it  as  his  doctrine  of  justification 
(f.  e.  forgiveness)  for  the  sake  of  the  crucified  Inter- 
cessor. He  could  not  imagine  a  witness  of  the  resur- 
rection with  whom  this  would  not  be  an  essential  part 
of  the  "  ministry  of  reconciliation  "  committed  to  him 
as  an  "  ambassador  from  God."  We  may  well  believe 
that  Peter's  own  preaching  came  to  embody  something 
like  the  same  doctrine.  But  how  should  an  evangelist 
whose  narrative  did  not  include  any  account  of  Peter's 


278        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

later  enlightenment  convey  to  his  reader  the  idea  that 
Peter  also  was  "awakened"  to  perceive  the  reality? 
If  he  followed  the  accepted  methods  of  Jewish  mid- 
rash  he  would  introduce  after  the  account  of  the  re- 
buke of  Peter's  blindness  a  vision  and  Bath  Kol  to 
explain  how  his  inward  eyes  and  ears  were  opened. 
And  he  would  not  shrink  from  abrupt  interruption  of 
the  context.  In  Mark  8:  37-9:  1  Jesus  reveals  His 
mission  as  a  suffering  Christ,  rebuking  the  incredulity 
of  the  disciples  and  Peter,  and  promising  to  achieve 
the  kingdom  as  glorified  Son  of  Man.  This  continues 
in  9:  11,  where  the  difficulty  raised  by  the  question: 
"  How  then,  say  the  scribes,  that  Elias  must  first 
come?"  is  answered  by  the  teaching  that  John  the 
Baptist's  ministry  and  fate  fulfills  the  prophecy.  The 
Transfiguration,  with  its  totally  different  answer  to 
the  question,  is  interjected  between  the  two.  But  this 
is  characteristic  of  midrash,  which  the  Talmud  throws 
in  at  any  point,  regardless  of  interruption,  to  acquaint 
the  reader  with  the  new  point  of  view.  In  the  story 
of  the  extension  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles  the 
reader  of  the  story  of  vision  and  Bath  Kol  at  Joppa 
learns  how  Peter  was  brought  (as  was  really  the  case 
in  due  time)  to  see  that  his  Jewish  distinctions  of  clean 
and  unclean  were  insignificant  in  God's  sight.  Here 
the  same  devices  arc  employed  to  show  the  reader 
hov/  *'  after  the  Son  of  Man  was  risen  from  the  dead  " 
Peter  and  they  that  were  with  him  came  to  appre- 
hend the  glorified  Christ  and  His  mission  just  as  Paul 
apprehends  the  matter  in  his  description  of  the  *'  reve- 
lation in  him  "  of  the  risen  Son  of  God  when  he  de- 
ceived the  ''  ministry  of  the  new  covenant."  The 
story  shows  how  it  was  not  the  purpose  of  God  to 
bring  back  to  earth  the  "  witnesses  "  who  had  already 
been  glorified,  to  resume  their  earthly  "  tabernacles  " 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    279 

as  Peter's  conception  would  require;  but  that  Jesus, 
through  His  sacrificial  death,  was  to  be  transfigured 
into  the  same  immortal  form  which  is  worn  by  Moses 
and  Elias  and  the  rest  of  the  denizens  of  Paradise. 
With  Peter  are  associated  by  Mark  James  and  John, 
who  like  Peter  had  shared  the  Master's  cup  of  martyr- 
dom (10:  39).  Possibly  this  was  not  part  of  the 
original  midrash,  which  aims  only  to  supplement  the 
story  of  Peter's  spiritual  blindness  in  8:  37-9:  13.  It 
does  inform  the  reader  in  any  case,  how  the  Apostles' 
spiritual  eyes  and  ears  were  opened  to  see  what  Paul 
describes  as  the  ''  gnosis  "  of  the  apostleship  of  the 
Redemption  in  2  Corinthians  3-6.  Peter's  apostleship 
is  thus  sublimated  by  infusing  it  with  the  divine  au- 
thority and  meaning  Paul  found  in  his,  just  as  Mat- 
thew 16:  17-19  supplements  the  same  story  by  adding 
the  substance  of  Galatians  1:  1,  llf.,  16. 

I  do  not  mean  that  the  authors  of  these  midrashoth 
had  before  them  copies  of  the  epistles  of  Paul,  and 
artfully  constructed  allegorical  parallels  to  the  minutiae 
of  these.  I  would  not  even  claim  that  they  have  bor- 
rowed from  them  the  technical  expressions  "  trans- 
figured," or  "  tabernacles  "  (i.  e.  bodies),  nor  the  con- 
ception of  the  radiant  glory-body  belonging  to  the  im- 
mortals. Jewish  haggada  Is  much  too  untrammelled 
for  that,  and  these  expressions  and  conceptions  are 
too  generally  used  in  the  literature  of  apocalyptic 
eschatology  for  me  to  press  the  coincidence.  I  only 
present  the  three  companion  instances  of  vision  and 
Bath  Kol  in  Synoptic  story  to  show  how  the  necessity 
for  Infusing  it  with  the  values  of  Paul's  great  teach- 
ings of  a  Christ  not  after  the  flesh  was  met.  Those 
who  carried  on  the  preaching  of  Peter  among  the 
Gentiles  had  somehow  to  incorporate  this  spiritual 
sense.    In  our  particular  case  they  use  the  Synagogue 


280        KELIGIOH  AND  THE  FUTUKE  LIFE 

preacher's  method  of  midrash,  interjecting  the  vision- 
supplement  into  the  midst  of  the  story  precisely  as  we 
find  the  midrashoth  interjected  into  the  haggada  of 
the  Tahnud. 

To  compare  small  things  with  great  let  me  add  one 
more  rabbinic  parallel.  It  is  a  story  told  in  Hagiga 
14:  2  of  R.  Jochanan  ben  Zacchai,  the  youngest  disciple 
of  Hillel;  for  Jochanan  was  a  contemporary  of  Jesus 
and  the  Apostles,  having  survived  the  destruction  of 
the  temple.  In  respect  to  substance  of  teaching  there 
is  no  comparison,  for  Mark  9:  2-10  embodies  the 
sublimest  elements  of  the  teaching  of  Paul.  Jochanan 
is  only  commenting  on  some  words  of  his  own  dis- 
ciples. But  as  respects  midrashic  method,  i.  e.  the 
mode  of  speech  by  vision  and  Bath  Kol,  the  story  is 
instructive.  Jochanan  himself  was  famous  for  his 
ability  to  expound  the  abstruse  doctrines  of  Paradise 
and  the  heavenly  world  called  doctrines  of  the 
"chariot"  because  based  on  Ezekiel's  vision  (Ez. 
1:  4-28).  Discussion  of  them  was  therefore  forbid- 
den to  all  save  the  greatest  sages.  Nevertheless  two 
of  his  disciples  reported  to  Jochanan  one  day  how  they 
had  discussed  this  forbidden  subject  and  had  received 
heavenly  manifestations  of  approval.  Magnanimous 
as  Moses  when  Eldad  and  Modad  prophesied  in  the 
camp  R.  Jochanan  expressed  his  congratulations  thus: 
''  Blessed  arc  ye,  and  blessed  is  she  that  bare  you. 
Blessed  are  mine  own  eyes,  for  they  have  seen  likewise. 
I,  too,  beheld  in  vision  how  you  and  I  were  resting  on 
Mount  Sinai,  and  a  Bath  Kol  went  forth,  saying  (Ex. 
24:  1)  'Come  up  hither.  Come  up  hither.  A  ban- 
queting place  is  prepared  here  for  thee  and  for  thy 
disciples.'  "  This  is  not  meant  to  be  taken  literally,  as 
we  take  the  words  of  Jochanan's  namesake  and  con- 
temporary the  Christian  seer  who  begins  his  story  of 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    281 

vision  by  saying  "  I  saw,  and  behold,  a  door  opened  in 
heaven,  and  I  heard  a  voice  saying,  *  Come  up  hither  '  " 
(Rev.  4:  1).  Jochanan  does  not  mean  to  be  under- 
stood as  we  rightly  understand  Paul,  when  he  tells  of 
being  transported  to  Paradise.  For  Paul  refers  to  a 
condition  of  cataleptic  trance,  and  regards  it  as  an 
actual  transportation  of  his  spirit  (whether  with  or 
without  the  body  he  will  not  venture  to  say,  nor  would 
it  have  mattered  to  his  contemporaries)  to  the  third 
heaven,  where  he  heard  words  he  dared  not  utter.  Paul 
believes  himself  to  have  been  actually  there.  But  it 
is  doubtful  if  even  the  Christian  John  means  to  be  un- 
derstood literally.  Still  less  should  this  be  assumed 
in  case  of  the  Jewish  John,  who  merely  makes  use  in 
more  condensed  form  of  the  same  Scripture  developed 
by  Paul  when  he  compares  an  earlier  experience,  his 
primary  experience  of  God's  manifestation  of  His 
Son  "  in  him,"  to  the  vision  of  Moses.  It  was  "  after 
six  days  "  of  preparation  that  Moses  entered  into  the 
cloud,  when  he  and  the  elders  "  went  up  unto  God  and 
did  eat  and  drink  "  (Ex.  24:  1,  11,  16,  18).  Not  only 
Paul  but  Jochanan  and  his  disciples  compare  their  ex- 
perience to  this. 

When,  therefore,  I  read  after  Mark's  story  of 
Peter's  rebuke  for  rejecting  the  doctrine  of  a  suf- 
fering and  glorified  Son  of  Man,  that  "  after 
six  days  "  Jesus  took  him  and  the  two  other  com- 
panions of  His  martyrdom  up  into  a  high  moun- 
tain apart,  where  in  vision  (or  as  Luke  more  signifi- 
cantly says  ''when  they  were  fully  awakened")  He 
was  transfigured  before  them,  and  talked  with  the 
glorified,  I  understand  this  story  of  vision  and  Bath 
Kol  just  as  I  would  understand  it  if  uttered  by  any 
other  Jewish  teacher  of  the  same  period.  I  under- 
stand that  the  description  of  Jesus'  appearance  in  His 


282       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

transfigured  form  together  with  the  two  denizens  of 
Paradise,  ''  the  men  who  were  taken  up,  which  had 
not  tasted  death  since  their  birth,"  is  intended  to  meet 
the  discouragement  of  the  disciples  by  a  parallel  to 
the  saying  on  seeing  the  kingdom  of  God  without 
tasting  death.  For  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter  under- 
stands and  employs  it  thus,"  adding  to  it  just  as 
Matthew  does,  the  stereotyped  conception  of  the  glori- 
fied that  their  faces  ''  shone  like  the  sun "  (Matt. 
17:  2;  cf.  2  Esdras  7:  97).  I  understand  that  Peter's 
ill-advised  plea  to  provide  for  the  continuance  of  Jesus 
and  the  two  "  forerunners  of  immortality  "  with  the 
disciples  on  earth,  and  his  offer  to  build  them  "  taber- 
nacles," is  a  parallel  to  his  before-related  utterance  as 
the  mouthpiece  of  ''  Satan  "  and  of  ''  things  according 
to  men."  For  Peter  had  said  of  Jesus'  prediction  of 
His  martyr  fate,  *'  This  be  far  from  thee.  Lord,  this 
shall  not  be  unto  thee."  I  understand  that  the  Voice 
which  proclaims  from  the  overshadowing  cloud: 
*'  This  is  my  Son,  the  Beloved,  hearken  to  him  "  re- 
peats with  divine  approval  the  ideal  that  Jesus  had 
laid  before  them,  and  corrects  the  disciples'  unworthy 
conceptions,  just  as  in  the  vision  at  Joppa  it  rejects 
Peter's  human  distinctions  in  favour  of  "  what  God 
hath  made  clean."  Therefore  the  whole  interjected 
episode  of  vision  and  Bath  Kol  interrupting  the  ac- 
count of  Jesus'  self-revelation  to  the  disciples  at 
Caesarea  as  a  Redeemer  of  Israel  through  martyrdom, 
and  their  objection,  "  What,  then,  about  the  expected 
coming  of  Elias?"  Is  to  me  not  history,  but  poetry. 
It  is  the  t3^plcal  symbolism  of  midrash,  an  effort  on  the 
part  of  the  preacher   (for  midrash  is  pulpit  exposi- 

"  See  above,  noting  the  words  "  that  we  mip^ht  see  of  what 
sort  they  are  as  respects  their  form  (ij.op<p7J),  and  taking  courage 
ourselves  might  encourage  our  hearers." 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    283 

tion)  to  convey  to  the  hearer  the  idea  that  when  the 
disciples  learned  to  use  their  spiritual  eyes  and  ears 
they  came  to  see  the  Redeemer  and  His  Redemption 
not  as  men  mean  it,  but  as  God  means  it.  It  is  sym- 
bolism, not  fact,  and  it  has  taken  me  a  long  time  to 
put  its  real  meaning  before  you.  It  has  taken  Paul 
himself  three  long  chapters  to  express  substantially  the 
same  conceptions;  and  if  in  some  respects  these  chap- 
ters are  the  most  sublime  of  all  his  writings,  certainly 
they  are  by  no  means  the  easiest.  You  may  object  that 
it  is  hard  for  modern  westerners  to  penetrate  to  the 
real  meaning  of  Mark  9:  2-10;  but  can  any  of  us  put 
as  much  meaning  into  seven  verses  ? 

It  is  needless  to  follow  down  the  history  of  the 
Transfiguration  midrash  through  its  employment  in  2 
Peter,  the  Apocalypse  of  Peter,  and  the  ''  traditions  " 
of  Papias'  **  Elders "  quoted  by  Irenseus.  What  I 
have  already  said  will  suffice  to  show  its  place  in  re- 
lation to  the  development  of  Christian  belief  as  I  con- 
ceive it.  It  represents  the  post-Pauline  attempt  to 
sublimate  Petrine  tradition  w^ith  the  elements  of 
Pauline  teaching,  recasting  them,  however,  in  the  con- 
ventional forms  of  current  Jewish  eschatology.  I 
must  pass  from  this  secondary  element  of  Synoptic 
tradition  to  a  widely  different  attempt,  not  much  later 
in  date,  but  from  a  different  environment,  to  achieve 
a  similar  result,  the  restatement  of  the  doctrine  in  the 
Gospel  of  Ephesus  attributed  to  John. 

IV.  Immortality  in  the  Fourth  Gospel 
The  Johannine  writings  come  from  the  very  head- 
quarters of  Paulinism,  a  centre  for  ages  of  Greek 
philosophy.  They  date  from  a  full  generation  after 
Paul's  death.  It  would  be  strange  if  they  did  not  re- 
flect a  Hellenistic  type  of  teaching  rather  than  the 


284        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

Palestinian  which  we  have  seen  to  prevail  in  the 
Synoptic  writings.  Indeed  the  outstanding  fact  in 
their  presentation  of  the  story  of  Jesus  is  that  the 
writer  conceives  it  primarily  as  a  manifestation  of  the 
divine  Logos.  In  other  words  His  Christology  is  not, 
like  the  Synoptic,  an  apotheosis  doctrine,  but  an  in- 
carnation doctrine.  Jesus  is  not  so  much  exalted  to 
heaven  to  be  made  the  Son  of  God  as  sent  forth  from 
heaven  to  "  manifest  his  glory  "  for  a  brief  period  on 
earth,  returning  after  completion  of  His  mission  to 
"  the  glory  which  he  had  with  the  Father  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world."  The  Christ  they  depict  is 
the  "  spiritual "  Christ  of  Paul. 

Greek  philosophy,  it  has  been  well  said,  cannot  log- 
ically conceive  immortality  without  preexistence.  If 
with  Plato  it  conceives  the  soul  as  a  monad  incapable 
of  dissolution  it  must  with  the  same  philosopher  seek 
in  the  intuitive  categories  of  reason  for  remnants  of 
former  experience.  The  principles  of  mathematics, 
for  example,  which  not  even  the  untutored  can  deny, 
Plato  holds  are  brought  with  us  from  a  former  exist- 
ence not  wholly  submerged  under  the  Lethean  waters 
through  which  we  passed  on  entering  the  world.  Plato 
agrees  with  Wordsworth  that 

Not  in  entire  forgetfulness 

And  not  in  utter  nakedness, 

But  trailing  clouds  of  glory  do  we  come 

From  heaven  which  is  our  home. 

To  some  extent  even  Jewish  belief  had  yielded  in 
Paul's  time  to  this  doctrine  of  preexistence,  as  we  have 
seen  from  Enoch  and  elsewhere.  But  it  remains  still 
possible  in  truly  Jewish  writings  to  draw  the  line  be- 
tween logical  and  real  preexistence.  Enoch  sees  the 
soul  of  Messiah  laid  up  in  Paradise,  waiting  to  be  sent 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    285 

for  the  consolation  of  Israel.  But  this  is  only  a  sym- 
bolic way  of  saying-  that  God's  promise  of  His  coming 
is  as  sure  of  fulfillment  as  if  the  eye  of  the  spirit  could 
be  opened  and  one  could  see  the  preparation  already 
made.  It  remained  for  Paul  the  Hellenist  to  take  the 
final  step  in  ascribing  to  Jesus  a  conscious  part  in  His 
own  sending  (2  Cor.  8:9;  Phil.  3:  6f.).  The  real 
point  of  transition  is  Paul's  adoption  of  the  Alexan- 
drian Wisdom  doctrine,  identifying  the  Son  of  Man 
of  Daniel  and  Enoch  with  the  pre-creative  divine 
Spirit  which  according  to  the  Wisdom  books  is  God's 
agent  both  in  creation  and  redemption  (1  Cor.  8:  6; 
Col.  1:  16).  Unlike  Philo  and  the  fourth  evangelist 
Paul  does  not  take  the  further  step  of  identifying  Wis- 
dom with  the  Stoic  Logos,  a  metaphysical  rather  than 
religious  principle.  Even  with  his  Ephesian  disciple 
the  Christology  is  still  fundamentally  a  Wisdom  doc- 
trine, in  which  the  redemptive  function  predominates 
and  that  of  creating  and  sustaining  the  universe  is  an 
adjunct.  There  may  be  significance  in  the  fact  that 
we  find  no  trace  of  this  distinctively  Alexandrian 
Logos-doctrine,  which  so  strongly  colours  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews  and  the  Ephesian  Gospel,  in  any 
Epistle  of  Paul  antecedent  to  his  association  with 
Apollos ;  but  it  undoubtedly  affects  his  teaching  in  the 
later  Epistles,  and  it  could  not  fail  to  have  its  effect 
upon  his  doctrine  of  immortality.  In  point  of  fact  it 
is  a  commonplace  of  the  studies  of  Paulinism  that  as 
he  approaches  the  end  Paul's  hope  becomes  less  and 
less  an  expectation  of  "the  coming  of  the  Lord  "  (1 
Thess.  4:15;  1  Cor.  15:  51ff.),  and  more  and  more 
a  longing  "to  depart  and  be  with  Christ"  (Phil. 
1:  23).  This  would  be  natural  enough  as  with  ad- 
vancing age  the  likelihood  of  Paul's  survival  to  wit- 
ness the  actual  "  comino;  of  the  Lord "  became  less 


286        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

and  less.  But  apart  from  this  Paul's  whole  concep- 
tion of  immortality  was  based,  as  we  have  been  again 
and  again  reminded,  upon  his  experience  of  spiritual 
contact  with  the  risen  and  glorified  Christ,  and  (next, 
perhaps,  to  his  struggle  with  the  Judaizers)  it  was  the 
great  battle  of  his  life  to  prove  that  this  spiritual  con- 
tact is  morally  conditioned  and  morally  effective  in  its 
results.  The  new  life  which  it  gives  produces  a  con- 
tinual, daily  moral  regeneration,  to  which  the  transmu- 
tation of  "  our  mortal  flesh  "  into  the  glory-body  is 
altogether  secondary.  Hence  a  continual  insistence  on 
the  present-day  character  of  the  new  life;  although  in 
another,  and  equally  true  sense  it  is  "  hid  with  Christ 
in  God,"  i.  e.  laid  up  in  heaven,  so  that  when  "  Christ 
who  is  our  life  shall  appear,  then  we  also  are  mani- 
fested with  him  in  glory."  In  either  case  it  is  no 
longer  we  that  live,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  us. 

To  meet  the  objections  of  those  who  declared  that 
his  doctrine  of  grace  removed  all  barriers  to  sin,  an  ob- 
jection which  found  only  too  much  to  sustain  it  in  the 
lives  of  converts  who  said  "  I  am  of  Paul,"  but  whose 
Paulinism  consisted  mainly  in  applying  the  principle 
*'  All  things  are  lawful,"  the  Apostle  was  thus  thrown 
back  more  and  more  upon  his  doctrine  of  mystical 
imion.  The  man  who  in  the  self-dedication  of  bap- 
tism has  died  unto  sin  is  no  more  subject  to  It.  He 
lives  a  new  life,  a  life  of  the  Spirit  given  from  heaven, 
a  Christ-life  animated  and  controlled  by  a  new 
"  mind  "  fvoy?).  If,  then,  the  regeneration  of  the 
Spirit  in  baptism  marks  the  beginning  of  the  true  life 
— the  Christ-united,  eternal  life — in  proportion  as  this 
is  realized  the  mere  "  manifestation  "  which  gives  it 
outward  expression  at  the  Coming  becomes  of  subor- 
dinate importance.  No  wonder  there  were,  perhaps 
within  Paul's  lifetime,  Greek  disciples  like  PTymenaeus 


IMjVIORTALITY  in  the  FOUETH  gospel    287 

and  Philetus,  who  erred  concerning  the  truth,  alleging 
that  the  resurrection  is  past  already;  and  their  word, 
if  we  may  accept  the  witness  of  1  Timothy  2:  17,  ate 
like  a  gangrene  at  Ephesus. 

It  was  indeed  inevitable  that  in  the  generation  after 
Paul  an  Ephesian  evangelist,  writing  with  the  distinct 
object  of  supplementing  the  "  bodily  things  "  related  by 
his  predecessors  with  the  **  spiritual  things  "  concern- 
ing Christ  which  Paul  had  taught,  should  recast  the 
whole  doctrine  of  the  last  things  as  we  get  it  from 
Synoptic  tradition,  and  base  it  primarily  where  Paul 
had  based  it,  on  a  present  eternal  life  which  the  be- 
liever enters  from  the  moment  that  he  has  become 
"  united  by  faith  "  with  the  eternial  Son.  For  this 
reason  the  eschatological  chapters  of  the  Synoptists 
describing  the  doom  of  Jerusalem  and  coming  of  the 
Son  of  Man  on  the  clouds  disappear  from  the  fourth 
Gospel.  Their  place  is  taken  by  the  discourses  of  the 
upper  room,  culminating  in  the  parable  of  the  vine 
and  the  branches,  a  parallel  to  Paul's  figure  of  the 
head  and  the  members  (Rom.  12:4-8;  1  Cor. 
12:  12ff.;  Eph.  4:  1-16).  The  judgment  is  indeed  in 
this  Gospel  "  past  already."  Paul  had  said  there  was 
none  for  those  who  "  are  in  Christ  Jesus,  who  walk 
not  after  the  flesh  but  after  the  Spirit."  Our  evangel- 
ist declares  it  to  be  a  process  of  natural  gravitation 
effected  by  the  coming  of  light  into  the  world,  so  that 
those  whose  deeds  are  evil  are  repelled  from  it,  as  those 
who  do  the  truth  are  attracted  to  it  that  their  deeds 
may  be  made  manifest  that  they  are  wrought  in  God 
(John  3:17-21).  In  Ephesians  2:1-10;  5:8-14 
Christ's  coming  into  the  present  world  in  which  we 
live  is  already  a  liberation  of  its  prisoners  of  dark- 
ness from  the  prison-house  of  sin  and  death,  giving 
them  both  the  light  and  the  life  of  Christ  so  that  as 


288        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

children  of  light  they  ''  reprove  the  unfruitful  works  " 
of  the  darkness  around  them,  thus  participating  in  the 
Redeemer's  judgment  of  the  world.  The  Ephesian 
Gospel  develops  this.  Here  also  the  light  which 
Christ  brings  effects  the  judgment  (3:  17-21;  5:  31- 
27).  Whoso  hears  His  word,  and  believeth  Him  that 
sent  Him  hath  eternal  life,  and  cometh  not  into  judg- 
ment, but  hath  passed  out  of  death  into  life.  And  the 
saints  take  part  in  this  judgment  of  the  world,  because 
the  Spirit  which  is  given  them  "  convicts  the  world 
in  respect  of  sin,  of  justification  and  of  judgment" 
(16:8-11). 

Thus  the  fourth  Gospel  displaces  the  Synoptic  doc- 
trine of  resurrection  and  judgment  by  a  more  spiritual 
Pauline  conception  of  a  liberating,  life-giving  Christ 
who  has  already  entered  our  darkness  and  raised  us 
from  our  condition  of  death  in  trespasses  and  sins  by 
the  indwelling  of  His  Spirit.  So  completely  is  this  the 
case  that  quite  a  number  of  critics  are  unwilling  to 
admit  as  authentic  the  few  verses  in  which  something 
like  the  Synoptic  conception  is  admitted.  It  is,  of 
course,  absurd  to  talk  with  Kreyenbiihl  of  this  being  a 
Gnostic  Gospel,  whose  author  (Kreyenbiihl  proposes  to 
regard  the  Gnostic  Menander  as  its  actual  author)  oc- 
cupies the  standpoint  of  Hymena^us  and  Philetus 
rather  than  of  Paul.  There  is  no  more  effective  op- 
ponent of  Gnostic  illuminationism,  immortality  by 
mystical  infusion  of  divine  nature  through  gnosis,  than 
the  fourth  evangelist.  But  it  is  true  that  the  force  of 
his  opposition  lies  in  his  absolute  loyalty  to  the  Pauline 
principle  that  eternal  life  is  attained  simply  and  solely 
by  moral  assimilation  to  the  "  mind  "  of  Christ.  Here 
the  whole  emphasis  lies  upon  the  word  "  moral."  For 
the  rest  the  fourth  evangelist  does  take  the  Greek  view 
rather  than  the  Jewish.     It  is  the  very  strength  of  his 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOURTH  GOSPEL    289 

case  that  he  asshnilates  all  there  is  of  truth  in  the 
position  of  his  opponents.  Like  Clement  after  him 
he  might  call  himself  a  Christian  Gnostic. 

Here,  then,  is  the  vital  point.  This  evangelist's  idea 
of  union  with  God  is  not  an  intellectual,  but  a  moral 
assimilation.  The  whole  power  of  his  Gospel  con- 
sists in  his  having  done  for  Petrine  tradition  what 
none  of  his  predecessors  had  succeeded  in  doing — in- 
fusing it  with  the  Pauline  mysticism,  the  doctrine  of 
moral  victory  by  mystic  union  with  the  eternal  Christ. 
The  outward  elements  of  Pauline  teaching  had  in  some 
measure  penetrated  Petrine  story  even  in  the  Gospel 
of  Mark.  But  Mark  has  no  trace  of  the  vital  thing  in 
Paul,  this  doctrine  of  mystic  union  with  Christ,  the 
being  "  in  "  him,  the  living  his  life,  being  '*  conformed 
to  the  image,''  morally  first,  but  physically  also,  and 
so  participating  in  Christ's  heavenly  nature  that  has 
shaken  off  the  fetters  of  sin  and  death.  In  the  fourth 
Gospel  this  is  the  very  essence  of  the  mission  of  the 
Redeemer.  God  gave  Him  ''  authority  over  all  flesh 
that  to  all  whom  God  gave  him  he  should  give  eternal 
life.  And  this  is  life  eternal  that  they  should  know 
the  Father  and  the  Son."  But  only  those  who  keep 
His  commandments  can  make  this  claim.  Possession 
of  the  Spirit  is  a  witness  to  the  world  that  God  has 
given  those  who  have  it  eternal  life  "  and  this  life  is 
in  his  Son.  He  that  hath  the  Son  hath  the  life;  he 
that  hath  not  the  Son  of  God  hath  not  the  Hfe  "  (1 
John  5:  10-12).  But  obedience  is  the  test  of  gnosis. 
Those  and  only  those  have  the  life  who  obey  the  law 
of  love. 

The  fourth  evangelist  never  wearies  of  ringing  the 
changes  on  this  Pauline  theme:  "  This  is  the  life,  even 
the  eternal  life  which  was  with  the  Father,  and  which 
was  manifested  to  the  bearers  of  the  glad  tidings." 


290        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

It  is  no  other  than  the  eternal  Logos  of  God,  for  all 
being  proceeds  from  it,  and  is  sustained  by  it.     But  it 
is  also  the  agent  of  redemption  as  well  as  of  creation. 
It  is  the  agent  and  expression  of  the  God  whose  na- 
ture is  love,  and  reproduces  its  like.     But  by  its  dis- 
criminative power  in  separating  good  from  evil,  light 
from  darkness,  it  is  the  agent  of  judgment  also.     ''  In 
the  Logos  was  life,  and  the  life  was  the  light  of  men, 
and  the  light  shineth  in  the  darkness,  and  the  darkness 
overcame  it  not"    (1:  4f.).     In  Matthean  language 
this  would  be  expressed  by  saying  "  the  gates  of  Sheol, 
the  kingdom  of  darkness  in  the  under-world,  did  not 
prevail  against  it."     Paul  expresses  it  in  Ephesians  by 
representing  the  world  of  sin  and  death  in  which  we 
live  as  the  region  invaded  by  the  light-hero  who  leads 
us  forth  in  triumph  to  share  His  resurrection.     He 
quotes  an  ancient  resurrection  hymn  to  apply  its  im- 
agery to  us  as  "  sons  of  the  light "  who  share  the  con- 
queror's victory,  "  Wherefore  he  saith,  '  Awake,  thou 
that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  the  Christ 
shall  shine  upon  thee! '  "  (Eph.  2:  1-6;  4:  8-10;  5:  8- 
14).  The  figure  was  classic.    Slavonic  Enoch  xlvi.  2f. 
shows  us  how  contemporary  Jewish  apocalypse  em- 
ployed it:  ''When  God  shall  send  a  great  Light,  by 
means  of  that  there  will  be  judgment  to  the  just  and 
the    unjust,    and    nothing    will    be    concealed."      In 
Bereshith   Rahba  we   read:    "When  they  who   were 
bound  in  Gehinnom  saw  the  light  of  the  Messiah  they 
rejoiced  in  receiving  him,  and  said:  This  is  he  who  will 
lead  us  out  from  this  darkness."     You  see  the  figure 
was  not  tmknown. 

Seeing  how  completely  Paul  in  Ephesians,  and  this 
great  writer  of  Ephesus  after  Paul  have  brought  to 
the  stage  of  this  present  world  all  that  Jewish  apoca- 
lypse describes  as  a  conflict  of  the  powers  of  light  and 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    291 

darkness  in  the  infernal  regions  below  and  the 
heavenly  above,  it  is  perhaps  no  more  than  we  should 
expect  if  some  modern  interpreters  insist  that  such 
verses  as  John  5:  25,  28f.;  6:  39,  40,  44  must  be  due 
to  editorial  revision,  because  as  they  look  at  the  mat- 
ter, there  is  no  longer  room  for  a  "  raising  up  in  the 
last  day  "  when  the  work  of  resurrection  and  judg- 
ment has  already  been  completed  in  this  world.  But 
this  is  to  apply  our  own  conception  of  logic  too  rigidly 
to  the  minds  of  other  men.  Almost  the  same  might 
be  said  of  Paul.  Strictly  speaking  Paul's  doctrine  of 
present  participation  in  the  eternal  life  of  Christ  makes 
his  doctrine  of  judgment  to  come,  when  "  we  shall  all 
stand  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Christ,  that  every 
one  may  receive  according  to  the  deeds  done  in  the 
body  whether  they  be  good  or  bad,'*  superfluous. 
Why  summon  the  righteous  to  hear  again  a  verdict 
whose  blessed  fruits  they  have  been  enjoying  for  un- 
told thousands  of  years?  If  "this  is  the  judgment, 
that  light  is  come  into  the  world  and  men  loved  dark- 
ness rather  than  light  because  their  deeds  were  evil," 
if  because  they  hearkened  not  to  the  Son  they  do  not 
see  life,  but  already  the  wrath  of  God  abideth  on  them 
(3:  19-21,  36),  why  have  a  new  judgment  and  a  sec- 
ond condemnation  at  the  wind-up  of  all  things? 

In  strict  logic  very  little  room  is  left  for  Paul's  doc- 
trine of  the  "  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God."  Even 
this  slight  remainder  of  the  old  Jewish  conception  of 
the  final  assize  might,  perhaps,  have  been  dispensed 
with.  But  it  was  not.  Paul  clings  to  it  loyally  as  an 
organic  element  of  Messianism.  And  the  fourth  evan- 
gelist is  no  less  loyal  than  Paul.  If  the  old  which  is 
ready  to  pass  away  still  stands  side  by  side  with  the 
new  which  encloses  and  supersedes  it  in  the  epistles  of 
Paul,  there  is  room  for  something  similar  in  the  fourth 


292       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

Gospel.  Moreover  the  Johannine  doctrine  of  a  "  rais- 
ing up  in  the  last  day  "  is  by  no  means  wholly  super- 
fluous. It  is  probably  true  that  the  Appendix  (ch. 
21)  with  its  reference  to  a  possible  tarrying  of  the 
Beloved  disciple  till  the  Coming,  understands  this 
Coming  in  a  sense  more  like  the  Synoptic  than  that 
of  the  Farewell  Discourse,  where  Jesus  promises  *'  If 
I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you  I  will  come  again  and 
receive  you  unto  myself/'  In  the  Appendix  the  writer 
seems  to  be  occupying  the  standpoint  of  Palestinian, 
Synoptic  tradition  according  to  which  Christ  brings  to 
earth  with  Him  the  place  which  He  has  prepared,  i  e. 
the  New  Jerusalem  which  descends  from  heaven  to 
take  the  place  of  that  which  spiritually  is  called  Sodom 
and  Egypt,  a  glorified  Jerusalem  like  that  seen  in 
vision  by  Ezekiel  and  Isaiah,  prepared  as  a  bride 
adorned  for  her  husband.  The  Beloved  disciple  might 
be  expected  to  be  of  those  who  are  alive  and  remain 
and  are  to  be  changed,  as  Paul  had  taught,  "  in  a  mo- 
ment, in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,"  into  the  immortal 
glory-body.  In  the  Farewell  Discourse  the  "  place 
prepared  "  remains  among  the  "  many  abodes  "  of  the 
Father's  house.  The  Christ  returns  after  He  has  pre- 
pared it,  not  to  bring  it  to  His  followers,  but  to  bring 
His  followers  to  it,  they  having  meantime  awaited  His 
coming  "in  the  tombs"  (5:  28f.).  Here  the  mes- 
sianic millennial  reign  in  the  New  Jerusalem  is  elimi- 
nated altogether.  The  author  stands  at  the  opposite 
extreme  from  the  Palestinian  seer  who  speaks  In  the 
name  of  ''  John  "  in  the  Revelation,  and  comes  very 
near  the  standpoint  of  the  Alexandrian  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  where  the  army  of  the  faithful  go  to  the 
heavenly  city,  leaving  behind  the  earthly  scenes,  in 
which  they  had  always  accounted  themselves  to  be 
mere  strangers  and  sojourners,  realizing  that  It  is  not 


IMMOETALITY  IN  THE  FOUETH  GOSPEL    293 

the  visible  and  tangible  world  that  is  really  enduring, 
but  ''  the  city  that  hath  the  foundations,  eternal  in  the 
heavens,  v^hose  builder  and  maker  is  God."  Indeed 
it  is  hard  to  distinguish  this  from  the  doctrine  so  ob- 
noxious to  Justin  Martyr,  "  that  when  we  die  our  souls 
are  taken  to  heaven."  The  only  difference  is  that  the 
fourth  evangelist  appears  to  think  of  our  souls  waiting 
the  Coming  to  go  to  the  heavenly  "  abode  "  in  a  body 
conducted  by  the  Redeemer,  whereas  the  Pythagoreans 
(if  such  be  the  belief  of  the  heretics  denounced  by 
Justin)  thought  of  them  as  going  thither  individually 
at  the  moment  of  death ;  or,  perhaps,  as  Jewish  teach- 
ers maintained  regarding  Paradise,  carried  thither  by 
angels.  There  is,  then,  a  difference  between  the  con- 
ception of  the  author  of  the  Appendix  and  that  of  the 
evangelist,  and  I  would  not  exclude  the  possibility  of  a 
retouching  of  the  Gospel  here  and  there  by  the  author 
who  attached  the  Appendix.  I  do  not  see,  however, 
any  ground  for  the  objections  raised  by  Wendt  and 
others  to  the  verses  above  specified,  because  a  "  raising 
up  of  the  dead,"  both  righteous  and  unrighteous,  "  In 
the  last  day  "  seems  to  me  the  natural  complement  to 
what  is  said  in  the  Farewell  chapter  about  Jesus'  com- 
ing again  to  receive  His  followers  "unto  himself," 
after  He  has  "  prepared  a  place  for  them." 

The  real  difference  between  the  Johannine  and  the 
Synoptic  doctrine  of  immortality,  even  in  that  later 
form  of  Synoptic  teaching  which  tries  to  incorporate 
the  elements  of  Pauline  doctrine  by  the  method  of 
vision  and  Bath  Kol,  lies  elsewhere.  It  lies  in  com- 
plete submergence  of  the  messianic  factor  embodied 
in  the  title  Son  of  David.  The  conception  of  a  mil- 
lennial reign  in  a  New  Jerusalem,  whether  for  four 
hundred  years,  or  a  thousand  years,  or  "  until  all  his 
enemies  have  been  made  subject  unto  him,"  has  no 


294        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

more  place.  It  has  become  wholly  eclipsed  behind  a 
purely  universal  hope  in  which  all  distinctions  of  race 
disappear  behind  our  common  humanity,  the  hope  of 
departing  to  be  with  Him  in  whose  footsteps  we  have 
sought  to  tread.  In  the  Fourth  Gospel  the  Greek  con- 
ception of  an  immortality  conditioned  upon  participa- 
tion in  the  nature  of  the  immortals  has  completely 
triumphed  over  the  Jewish  of  miraculous  resuscitation 
to  share  in  the  joys  of  a  millennial  reign.  But  the  evan- 
gelist has  not  surrendered  to  Gnosticism.  The  divine 
nature  in  which  the  heir  of  immortality  participates  is 
not  some  unknown  demi-god  of  ancient  myth,  heroic 
perhaps  in  some  features  of  his  story,  but  marked  by 
human  frailty  in  others;  it  is  the  nature  of  the  risen 
Christ.  And  the  union  is  not  effected  by  ritual  prac- 
tice, by  ascetic  distinctions  of  food  or  occupation.  It 
is  not  effected  by  culture  of  the  intellectual  nature  or 
by  mystical  illumination.  It  is  a  moral  union  effected 
by  the  consecration  of  the  will.  It  is  a  union  of  soul 
with  the  Creator  and  F'ather  of  all,  but  by  no  other 
road  than  that  of  the  suffering  Servant,  "  who  humbled 
himself,  and  took  upon  him  the  form  of  a  slave,  and 
became  obedient  unto  death,  yea,  even  the  death  of  the 
cross."  It  is  because  of  this  spirit  of  obedience  "  unto 
death  "  that  God  also  hath  "  highly  exalted  him,  and 
given  unto  him  the  name  which  is  above  every  name, 
that  in  the  name  of  Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  and 
that  every  tongue  should  confess  that  he  is  Lord,  to 
the  glory  of  God  the  Father." 


XI 

IMMORTALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM 
Duncan  Black  Macdonald 

IN  Mohammedanism  the  idea  of  immortality  is 
exceedingly  hard  to  treat  as  a  separate  rubric. 
The  fact  of  immortality  runs  through  the  whole 
religion  and  dominates  all  its  theologies;  but  it  is  so 
taken  for  granted  that  it  is  not  expressed  in  any  well- 
known  terminology.  The  theologians  speak  of  the 
Resurrection,  meaning  of  the  body,  and  of  the  abiding 
in  the  Garden  and  in  the  Fire ;  but  they  handle  the  ab- 
stract, unceasing,  continuance  of  the  soul  only  when 
they  are  forced  to  deal  with  materialists,  Pantheists 
or  mejtapsychosists.  The  nature  of  the  soul  falls,  iov  i^ 
them,  more  naturally  under  ethics  than  metaphysics ;  its 
"  how  "  is  more  important  than  its  essence.  Hence  I 
fear  you  will  find  my  present  treatment  far  from  sys- 
tematic. It  will  pass  over  many  questions  which  you 
would  naturally  expect  me  to  discuss,  and  it  will  wan- 
der into  many  fields  where  you  will  equally  naturally 
regard  me,  starting  with  such  a  subject,  as  a  devious 
intruder.  I  will  try  to  mention  immortality  at  least 
every  five  minutes;  but  how  devious  I  could  be,  and 
that  not  illegitimately,  I  trust  you  will  understand 
when  I  say  that  I  have  been  in  doubt  whether  to  begin 
or  to  end  with  the  influence  of  Moslem  eschatology  on 
the  mind  of  Dante.  But,  perhaps,  after  all,  I  had  bet- 
ter begin  with  the  influence  of  the  mind  of  Mohammed 
on  the  eschatology  of  Islam. 

295 


296        EBLIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

In  all  the  great  historical  religions  there  is  a  central, 
personal  reality  surrounded  by  instigating,  modifying 
and  developing  influences,  real  and  unreal,  subjective 
and  objective,  and  our  difficulty  in  reaching  an  his- 
torical view  of  each  religion  lies  in  separating  the  cen- 
tral fact,  psychological  or  material,  from  its  environ- 
ment.    With  regard  to  some  religions  we  cannot  but 
despair  of  ever  accomplishing  this.    We  have  not,  nor 
do  I  believe  can  v^e  ever  have,  the  materials  to  recon- 
struct the  ideas  and  aspirations  of  the  Mosaic  or  the 
Abrahamic  worlds.     The  Christian  world  came  into 
being  in  full  history,  and  in  some  future  time  we  can 
hope  to  see  its  origins  laid  clear  and  open,  although  at 
present,  in  the  dust  and  hammering  of  reconstruction, 
the  circumstantial  looms  more  largely  than  the  central. 
In  contrast  to  both,  the  beginnings  of  the  world  of 
Islam  lie  in  peculiar  ambiguity.     In  one  way  its  be- 
ginnings are  documented  with  more  historical  certainty 
than  even  those  of  Christianity;  but  on  another  side  a 
great  part  of  the  materials  for  its  history  is  involved 
in  the  highest  doubt  and  can  be  used  only  on  subjec- 
tive criteria;  while  there  is  especially  an  unillumined 
two  centuries  of  development — following  immediately 
the  assured  fact  of  the  Koran — where  we  grope  in  a 
darkness    of    tendentious    materials    and    subjective 
guesses. 

Under  these  conditions  we  are  always  forced  back 
in  the  end  to  Mohammed  himself,  as  his  mind  is  laid 
out  before  us  in  the  Koran.  In  spite  of  uncritical  and 
possibly,  in  details,  intentional  editing  it  is  trustworthy 
throughout,  and  it  gives  us  access  to  the  central  fact 
of  Islam,  the  personality  and  religious  experience  of 
the  Prophet.  It  is  the  attitude,  then,  of  that  person- 
ality toward  the  idea  of  immortality  which  I  must 
now  put  before  you.     Thereafter  will  follow  develop- 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     297 

ments  in  later  Islam;  but  the  imprint  of  the  Prophet 
himself  was  never  effaced. 

To  Mohammed  immortality  was  not  an  idea  to  be 
discussed;  it  was  a  fact  to  be  accepted.  Like  the 
people  surrounding  him  he  was  a  frank  animist/  in 
the  sense  of  being  an  intuitive  acceptor  of  a  spirit  world 
behind  this  in  which  we  move.  As  part  of  it  he 
accepted  the  existence,  for  each  man,  of  a  certain 
specific  entity  which  we  can  conveniently  call  the  soul, 
although  he  was  hard  put  to  it  to  find  a  suitable  term. 
Semitic  antiquity  and  contemporary  Arab  usage  fur- 
nished him  with  two  words  but  each  was  difficult. 
His  "  soul "  was  absolutely  real ;  was  individual, 
spiritual,  abiding,  and  was  the  link  between  each  man 
and  the  spiritual  world;  in  the  last  analysis,  the  link 
with  God.  It  could  choose  good  or  evil ;  could  believe 
or  disbelieve;  could  give  itself  to  God  or  to  Satan. 
God  had  made  it  with  tendencies  in  these  two  direc- 
tions. It  is  in  the  body  but  not  of  the  body.  The 
body  is  entirely  material,  clay  of  clay;  but  the  soul, 
ultimately  and  mysteriously,  comes  from  God.  It, 
with  all  human  life.  Is  of  the  breath  of  God,  and  man 
is  made  in  the  image  of  God.  To  express  such  an  idea 
Mohammed  had  the  terms  nafs  'and  ruh;  itheir  exact 
equivalents  exist  in  Hebrew  and  gave  almost  as  much 
trouble  to  the  advanced  Hebrew  thinkers  as  their 
Arabic  forms  to  Mohammed.  Nafs  in  its  essence  is 
an  aspect  of  the  idea  of  selfhood;  a  nafs  is  a  "  self." 
But  it  is  not  the  spiritual  aspect  of  the  "  self,"  but  the 
"  self  "  as  it  grasps  at  things,  desires  them,  has  an 
appetite  for  them.  Using  scholastic  language,  it 
might  be  called  the  appetitive  soul.  It  has  close  kin- 
ship, therefore,  to  the    </'<>xyj    and  is  often  practically 

*  See  on  this  further,  S.  M.  Zwemer,  The  Influence  of  Animism 
in  Islam. 


298        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

equivalent  to  our  "  the  flesh,"  in  such  usages  as  "  the 
temptations  of  the  flesh/'  In  that  it  goes  beyond 
4'oyif<:6<;  if  (poiifzoq  means  only  "  emotional,  sensu- 
ous " — as  the  tendency  seems  now  to  translate  it — 
for  the  nafs  can  be  specifically  sensual  and  must  be 
sharply  broken  from  its  false  cravings.  The  second 
word,  ruhy  should  be  the  equivalent  of  nv^hiia  in  its 
Hebraistic  and  New  Testament  usage;  but  either  our 
conception  of  that  usage  is  to  be  modified,  or  ruh  for 
Arab  antiquity  and  for  Islam  meant  and  means  some- 
thing different.'  It  is  the  old  question  of  the  nature 
of  "  spirit,"  a  question  round  which  the  whole  history 
of  philosophy  might  be  written.  Is  "  spirit "  essen- 
tially opposed  to  "  matter,"  or  is  it  merely  highly  re- 
fined matter,  a  phase  of  the  material?  It  is  evident 
that  ruh  for  Mohammed  was  a  puzzle;  Christian  and 
Jewish  ideas  had  confused  the  primitive  Arab  concep- 
tion; but  for  his  contemporaries  and  for  the  most  or- 
thodox Islam  since  his  time  it  was  and  is  a  phase  of 
the  material.  It  indicates  the  world  of  spirits,  of  an- 
gels, jinn,  Satans,  the  invisible  world,  "  the  Unseen  " 
of  our  occultists;  but  still  it  is  material.  Only  Allah 
himself  is  spirit  in  our  sense;  but  Arabic  and  Islam 
have  no  positive  term  by  which  to  render  that  sense  of 
spirit.  You  can  say  in  Arabic  that  Allah  is  not  this 
and  is  not  that,  but  you  cannot  say  in  Arabic  that  Allah 
is  a  spirit.^  If  you  attempt  it  you  will  produce  a 
blasphemy  at  which  all  orthodox  Moslems  will  stop 
their  ears  in  horror.     But  both  Mohammed  and  later 


'  In  connection  with  my  article  "  From  the  Arabian  Nights  to 
Spirit,"  in  the  Moslem  World  for  October,  1919,  Professor  F.  C. 
Burkitt  reminded  me  that  Hatch,  in  his  essays  on  Biblical  Greek, 
held  that  -nveotxa  in  John,  "  however  subtle,  is  still  material." 

'Of  course  the  later  scholastics  made  up  contrasting  phrases 
to  express  this  idea  but  the  plain  mind  viewed  them  with  dis- 
approval. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     299 

Islam  did  not  hesitate  to  apply  nafs  to  the  human  soul, 
and  later  Islam  came  to  use  ruh  very  much  as  a  syn- 
onym. Yet  so  far  as  the  evidence  of  the  Koran  is  con- 
cerned Mohammed  did  not  so  use  riih.  In  the  Koran 
it  has  always  angelic  and  divine  associations,  and  it  is 
plain  that  Mohammed  felt  himself  in  difficulty  as  to  its 
meaning  and  resented  too  close  questioning  on  the  sub- 
ject. One,  and  I  think  the  best,  interpretation  of 
Koran  xvii,  87,  makes  Allah  tell  him  to  reply  to  such 
questions,  "  The  ruh  is  my  Lord's  affair  " — and  not 
yours!  But  when  he  used  nafs  of  the  soul  this  evi- 
dently meant  nothing  as  to  materiality ;  he  was  simply 
using  the  vocabulary  which  he  found  at  hand  and 
which  seemed  to  meet  his  need.  Later  orthodox  Islam, 
however,  felt  tied  down  by  it  to  a  theory  of  the  soul 
which  Mohammed  himself  would  probably  have  re- 
jected. 

Fortunately  Mohammed  was  not  an  orthodox  Mos- 
lem ;  also  he  was  a  most  disjointed  and  chaotic  thinker. 
The  emotional  reality  of  his  faith  was  so  great  that  the 
systematic  expression  of  it  counted  for  little  with  him. 
At  fundamental  paradoxes  he  never  hesitated;  he 
stated  their  two  equally  valid  sides  and  left  them  there. 
Yet,  I  do  not  think  that  he  saw  them  as  paradoxes. 
They  were  two  separate  conclusions  in  his  mind,  one  of 
which  he  held  at  one  time  and  under  certain  circum- 
stances, and  the  other  at  another  time  and  under  other 
circumstances,  and  in  his  mind  they  never  collided.  A 
logician  might  say  that  his  feeling  for  disparate  con- 
clusions was  very  wide.  And  perhaps  the  greatest  of 
these  par  ado  xa  a-paradoxa,  if  I  may  coin  such  a  term, 
was  the  relation  of  God  to  man.  On  one  side  his  relig- 
ious position  had  led  him  to  open  a  really  impassable 
gulf  between  the  two.  The  name  for  the  Deity  which 
he  had  chosen  had  become  confused  in  the  Arab  mind 


300       BELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

with  all  manner  of  polytheistic  and  animistic  syncre- 
tisms. This  is  not  the  place  to  enter  upon  the  god- 
desses who  were  the  daughters  of  Allah  and  who  linked 
Allah  up  with  tribal  deities  and  stone  and  star  worship, 
or  upon  the  jinn  who  were  the  kindred  of  Allah  and 
linked  him  up  with  the  fear,  if  not  the  worship,  of  Na- 
ture and  of  the  wild.  From  all  that  Mohammed  had 
to  cut  free.  His  new  conception  of  the  old  Allah  was 
Hebrew  and  Christian;  but  laid  enormously  greater 
stress  on  the  transcendence  of  God.  He  could  not  risk 
the  Words worthian  pantheism  on  the  verge  of  which 
the  old  Hebrews  had  trembled,  nor  the  immanence 
which  the  Christian  theologians  had  expressed  in  the 
doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  His  Allah  must  be  entirely 
apart  from  the  world,  the  Creator  from  the  Created. 
We  can  almost  hear  an  echo  in  the  Koran  of  the  Arian 
hymns,  "  there  was  when  it  (the  Creation)  w^as  not.'* 
In  the  absoluteness  of  this  conception  Mohammed  rev- 
elled with  a  divine  intoxication.  A  dialectic  necessity 
had  become  a  spiritual  obsession. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  basis  of  all  his  Faith  was 
his  personal  experience.  God  had  revealed  Himself  to 
him  and  he  had  been  able  to  receive  the  revelation. 
The  human  spirit,  then,  could  meet  and  know  the  Di- 
vine. Not,  observe,  the  prophetic  spirit,  but  the  hu- 
man spirit.  Mohammed  had  no  delusion  of  greatness 
and  of  difference  in  himself.  He  held  firmly  to  his 
dignity  and  rights  as  the  Messenger  sent  by  Allah  to 
the  Arabs;  but  he  was  sent  because  he  was  a  human 
being,  "  sent  of  flesh  to  flesh."  All  human  beings,  by 
their  created  nature,  are  capable  of  prophecy,  and  all 
human  beings  do,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  at  some  time  or 
other,  enter  into  contact  with  the  Divine.  We  may 
not  all  be  sent  with  a  message  to  others ;  but  we  can  all 
know  God  for  ourselves.     The  developments  from  this 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     301 

on  the  part  of  Moslem  mystics  have  been  of  the  widest; 
for  Mohammed,  his  personal  experience  led  him  to  a 
fundamental  spiritual  fact. 

For  Mohammed,  then,  and  for  all  Islam  after  him, 
there  Is  a  something  in  the  nature  of  man  capable  of  \^ 
intercourse  with  the  Divine.  This  fact  was  accepted 
and  used  by  Mohammed  without  examination  and 
without  question;  it  has  been  the  problem  of  later 
Islam  to  adjust  the  fact  to  theological  system,  and  that 
has  been  done  in  different  ways.  To  this  something 
in  human  nature  Mohammed  applied  the  word  nafs, 
one  of  the  two  terms  I  have  already  described  to  you. 
He  implied  that  the  other  term,  ruh,  exists  also  in  man 
because  God  breathed  into  man  some  of  His  ruh  (Kor. 
XV,  29;  xxxii,  8;  xxxviii,  72).  In  old  Arabic  ruh 
meant  apparently  and  in  the  first  instance,  "  breath."  * 
These  terms  were  all  that  he  had,  and  he  used  them 
much  as  the  early  Christians  used  inadequate  or  mis- 
leading Greek  words.  But  he  was  also  aided  by  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  stories  of  man's  creation,  fall  and 
possible  salvation.  With  this  connected,  further,  a 
doctrine  of  evil  spirits,  which  suggests  to  us  the  Mil- 
tonic  universe  far  more  than  that  of  either  the  Old 
Testament  or  the  New. 

God  has  created  man  as  a  symmetrical  being.  On 
his  physical  symmetry  Mohammed  is  never  tired  of  en- 
larging; it  is  part  of  the  evidence  in  the  vast  analogy 
of  nature  for  the  power  and  the  beneficence  of  God. 
But  his  soul  also  is  symmetrical,  and  here  Mohammed 
shows  himself  as  an  ethical  genius  handling  the  great 
paradoxes  of  life.  God  has  made  it  of  balanced  good 
and  evil ;  or,  more  exactly.  He  has  instilled  into  it  op- 
posing instincts.  That  man  is  also  In  the  Image  of 
God  and  that  his  life  is  given  him  by  the  very  breath 
*  In  old  Arabic  you  blow  a  fire  with  your  rilh. 


302       EELIGIOI^  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

of  God  came  for  Mohammed  from  the  chaos  of  Bib- 
Heal  stories  fermenting  in  his  brain  and  did  not  modify 
this  assured  perception  which  he  had  reached  person- 
ally, of  the  ethical  struggle  in  man's  soul.  These  Bib- 
lical pictures  expressed  admirably  for  Mohammed  the 
difference  between  man  and  the  lower  animals;  they 
made  possible  the  assured  fact  of  contact  between  God 
and  man,  and  were  in  the  sequel  to  give  a  point  of  de- 
parture for  the  speculations  of  all  types  of  mystical 
theologians.  But  let  me  remind  you  in  all  this  that 
w^hile  such  phrases  were  working  in  Mohammed's  mind 
and  acting  as  stimuli  and  suggestions,  the  essential 
asis  for  him  was  his  own  experience  and  the  conclu- 
sions to  which  his  ov^^n  observation  of  the  facts  of  life 
had  forced  him.  So  now  he  saw  the  soul  of  man,  here 
in  the  world,  facing  its  eternal  destiny,  with  a  kinship 
to  God,  vague  yet  real,  but  also  open  to  the  influences, 
"  whisperings  "  the  Koran  calls  them,  from  the  Evil 
One.  And  here  Mohammed  linked  up  with  a  very 
confused  demonology ;  he  found  it  confused  and  he  did 
not  disentangle  it,  and  it  is  confused  in  Islam  to  this 
day.  Shortly  it  may  be  put  thus:  Along  with  man  and 
the  angels  and  the  jinn  there  exists  another  family  of 
intelligent  beings,  the  Head  of  which  is  called  IbHs, 
pretty  evidently  derived  from  ScdiSoXo^,  and  all  the 
members  of  which  are  called  Satans,  used  as  a  descrip- 
tive term.  Whether  these  are  a  sub-class  of  the  jinn 
or  are  fallen  angels  the  Koran  is  in  doubt,  and  with  it 
Islam.  They  are  spirits,  immortal  and  evil;  but  al- 
though they,  like  the  jinn,  come  under  the  plan  of  sal- 
vation, only  the  most  eccentric  Moslems  have  conceived 
that  they  could  repent  and  be  saved.'     They  are,  there- 

"  There  is  a  single  exception.  According  to  tradition 
Mohammed  met  a  great  grandson  of  IblTs,  accepted  him  as  a 
Moslem  and  taught  him  various  chapters  of  the  Koran. 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     303 

fore,  under  the  curse  of  Allah  and  Moslems  may  curse 
them.  Most  orthodox  Moslems  do  so;  but,  in  all 
strictness,  they  may  be  required  in  the  inquisition  at 
the  Last  Day  to  give  a  reason  why  they  have  done  so. 
Ever  since  the  historic  scene  in  the  Garden  of  Eden, 
when  Adam  and  his  wife  ate  of  the  forbidden  fruit, 
there  has  been  a  wager  between  Allah  and  Iblis.  Of 
the  real  meaning  of  that  story  in  Genesis  Mohammed 
had  no  idea ;  he  took  it  and  handled  it  as  did  Milton. 
The  upshot  is  that  God  and  the  Devil  are  at  war  for 
the  souls  of  men.  God  leads  them  aright  through  per- 
sonal illumination  of  their  separate  souls — the  Vision 
of  the  mystic — and  by  historical  revelations  through 
accredited  messengers ;  and  the  Devil  leads  them  astray 
through  assiduous  "  whisperings "  working  on  their 
twy-nature.  According  to  the  Koran  the  Devil  has 
good  hopes  of  getting  them  all  before  the  Day  of  Judg- 
ment. There  are  other  stories  current  in  Islam  to  ex- 
plain man's  essential  tendency  toward  evil,  stories 
which  corrupt  or  at  least  confuse  the  simple  reality  of 
Mohammed's  own  idea.  It  is  deduced  from  a  passage 
in  the  Koran  (iii,  31)  that  Iblis  touches  every  infant  at 
birth  and  thus  infects  him  with  evil.  The  only  infants 
who  have  escaped  this  have  been  Mary  and  her  son 
Jesus ;  Mohammed  himself  was  purified  from  such  evil 
at  an  early  age.  A  more  realistic  legend  tells  how 
-Adam  and  his  wife  were  induced  to  eat  one  of  the 
Satanic  house  and  of  how,  in  consequence,  evil  runs 
now  in  the  veins  of  men  with  their  blood.  Mohammed 
would  have  smiled  at  such  childishness;  like  the  Old 
Testament  he  traced  man's  evil  back  to  his  created 
nature. 

So  the  stage  is  set  for  the  great  drama  on  earth ;  the 
closing  scene  of  which  will  be  the  final  Judgment  with 
its  endless  weal  or  woe.     The  Arabs  to  whom  Mo- 


304        RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

hammed  preached  seem  to  have  been  accustomed  to  the 
idea  of  some  kind  of  continuation  of  the  personality 
after  physical  death.  There  is  much  evidence  that 
they  held,  as  did  the  Hebrews  in  general,  that  the  whole 
individual  was  buried  in  the  grave  and  continued  a  kind 
of  life  there.  You  will  remember  how  existence  in  the 
grave  is  described  in  Job  14:  23,  *'  Only  his  flesh  upon 
him  has  pain  and  his  soul  within  him  mourneth."  Ex- 
actly so  in  tradition  Mohammed  says,  or  is  made  to 
.  say,  "A  dead  man  is  pained  in  his  grave  just  as  a  living 
-Tnan  in  his  house/*  In  Hebrew  this  is  often  combined 
with  the  quite  different  idea  of  Sheol;  but  we  do  not 
find  anything  analogous  to  Sheol  with  the  Arabs  of 
Mohammed's  time.  It  was  not  necessary,  therefore, 
for  Mohammed  to  demonstrate  that  the  soul  continued 
to  exist  after  physical  death.  But  it  was  necessary  for 
him  to  demonstrate  to  his  somewhat  cynical  contem- 
poraries that  it  was  their  business  to  prepare  for  this 
existence ;  that  it  was  not  a  negligible  thing  to  be  faced 
by  all  and  the  same  for  all,  a  shadow  of  life,  a  life  that 
was  not  living;  that  there  would  come  to  each  man  a 
;  Judgment  and  that  for  that  Judgment  there  would  be  a 
/'Resurrection  of  the  entire  man,  body  and  soul.  Be- 
'  '*yond  the  two  ideas  of  Judgment  and  Resurrection  Mo- 
hammed does  not  seem  to  have  formulated  his  belief 
as  to  the  state  of  the  soul  after  death.  The  old  Semitic 
Life  in  Death  in  the  individual  grave  seems  to  have 
dominated  him  to  the  end.  Islam  has  added  many 
vain  imaginings,  and  a  great  part  of  its  literature  of 
edification  deals  with  eschatology.  That  literature  is 
full  of  the  wildest  and  crassest  contradictions,  and 
from  the  evidently  tendentious  traditions  of  which  It 
consists,  the  most  opposed  systems  have  been  con- 
structed. It  has  been  found  possible  to  demonstrate 
that  all  who  have  had  the   slightest  believing  rela- 


IMMORTALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     305 

tion  to  Islam  and  its  Prophet  will  be  saved,  and  also 
that  the  saved  will  consist  of  a  small  minority  of  bellig- 
erent ascetics  who  have  combined  a  scholastically  exact 
creed  with  a  scrupulous  adherence  to  the  details  of  the 
canon  law  and  a  complete  ignoring  of  the  claims  of 
human  ties.  But  the  theologians  have  recognized  that 
these  were  pious  opinions  and  were  not  to  be  held  as  of 
faith,  and  the  more  exact  and  systematic  a  treatise  on 
theology  is,  the  less  space  it  gives  to  such  matters.  I 
shall  follow  their  example,  although  I  am  fully  con- 
scious how  much  picturesqueness  this  course  excludes. 
As  a  separate  subject  the  devout  eschatology  of  Islam 
would  be  a  most  interesting  study  in  popular  psy- 
chology. 

I  return,  then,  to  Mohammed,  face  to  face  with  his 
Arabs.  Up  to  a  certain  point,  as  we  have  seen,  he  and 
they  held  the  same  view  as  to  the  situation  after  death. 
But  while,  for  them,  after  a  man  was  dead,  there  was 
nothing  more  to  be  hoped  or  feared,  for  him  the  whole 
future  was  dominated  by  moral  earnestness  and  reality. 
God  was  ruling  and  working  here  and  God  would  rule 
and  judge  hereafter.  It  was  the  business  of  man  to 
prepare  for  that  Judgment  and  to  flee  from  that  wrath 
to  come.  He  could  do  so  by  submission  to  Allah  and 
by  acceptance  of  the  message  sent  to  him  through 
Allah's  messenger,  the  Prophet.  That  message  was  of 
warning  and  guidance ;  warning  to  arouse  one's  self  to 
the  real  situation  in  the  world — Mohammed  has  much 
to  say  about  "  reality,"  translated  mostly  "  truth,"  in 
our  versions  of  the  Koran — and  to  enter  into  and  fol- 
low the  straight  road,  trodden  by  those  to  whom  Allah 
had  been  gracious,  those  who  had  escaped  his  wrath 
and  had  not  gone  astray.  Over  all  Mohammed's 
preaching  the  thunders  of  that  Dies  Irse  rolled.  The 
terrors  of  the  Judgment,  the  horrors  of  the  Fire,  the 


306       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

joys  of  the  Garden — all  these  he  painted  over  and  over 
again.  This  hfe  is  fleeting;  the  life  of  the  world  to 
come  is  abiding;  Allah  himself  is  the  only  reality;  he 
rules  and  will  rule.  There  is  no  escaping  him;  his 
judgments  can  be  seen  already  in  this  world,  and  the 
final  Day  will  crown  them.  Thereafter  all  will  be 
over;  the  damned  will  abide  eternally  in  the  Fire  and 
the  blessed  in  Paradise,  and  Allah  will  be  all  in  all. 

Such,  in  broad  outlines,  was  Mohammed's  position 
upon  the  soul  of  man  in  its  conflicts  here  and  its  final 
fate  hereafter.  But  there  remains  much  detail,  some 
of  which  I  must  attempt  to  fill  in.  It  will  often  be 
hard,  in  what  follows,  to  distinguish  between  what  was 
fully  in  the  mind  of  Mohammed  and  that  which  was 
there  only,  in  a  sense,  subconsciously;  between  what 
was  a  legitimate  development  and  systematization  of 
Mohammed's  thought  and  the  purely  arbitrary  super- 
structures of  theologians.  These  last  usually,  or  al- 
ways, have  as  their  basis  some  Koranic  expression  or 
other,  a  bit  of  free  imaginative  phrasing  on  Moham- 
med's part,  but  separated  by  them  from  its  context  and 
grotesquely  wrested  to  form  part  of  a  system. 

Let  me  put  before  you  first  an  example  of  this  latter 
method  of  development,  which  may  be  called  theologi- 
cal fiction  from  its  likeness  to  the  legal  fiction  of  con- 
structive lawyers.  In  Koran  vii,  44-46  there  is  a  little 
picture  of  a  company  called  "  the  people  of  al-A*raf," 
or  "  the  Heights,"  who  look  down  from  their 
*'  Heights  "  on  both  heaven  and  hell,  expressing  their 
;  desire  for  the  one  and  their  horror  of  the  other  and 
pronouncing  on  both  the  sentence  of  God.  This  state- 
ment of  mine  is  a  great  deal  clearer  than  the  broken 
and  enigmatic  Arabic  of  the  Koran  which  could  hardly 
be  rendered  exactly.  There  is  more,  too,  in  the  con- 
text, to  which  I  can  only  refer  you,  which  suggests  to 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     307 

me  that  the  germ  in  Mohammed's  mind  was  the  picture 
in  the  parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus,  with  its  view  of 
heaven  and  hell  and  of  the  uncrossable  gulf  between. 
It  was  exactly  in  this  way  that  Mohammed  was  af- 
fected by,  rather  than  consciously  used,  his  vague  scrip- 
tural memories.  But  Islam,  having  no  such  explana- 
tion open  to  it,  has  been  of  a  divided  mind.  Earlier 
Islam  saw  in  these  people  certain  Judges  whom  Allah 
associated  with  himself  in  the  final  Assize — it  is 
strange  how  even  the  most  orthodox  Islam  has  la- 
boured to  escape  in  one  way  or  another  from  the  limi- 
tation which  it,  itself,  lays  down,  that  all  Judgment  on 
that  Day  shall  belong  to  Allah  alone — and  thus  re- 
garded them  as  prophets  and  early  Caliphs,  or  as 
Prophets  and  the  Twelve  Imams,  or  as  martyrs  and 
Sufi  saints,  accordingly  as  Sunnites  or  Shi'ites  or  mys- 
tics were  the  exegetes.  But  later  Islam,  at  least  from 
the  time  of  al-Ghazzali  (d.  a.  d.  1111),  has  struck  out 
a  bolder  doctrine  which  if  not  now  absolutely  dominant 
is  tenable  for  the  most  orthodox  Moslem.  It  is  that 
with  which  you  are  all  familiar  in  Poe's  early  little 
poem,  ''Al-Aaraaf."  These  are  souls  abiding  in  eter- 
nal rest,  remote  equally  from  the  active,  positive  joys 
of  Heaven  and  from  the  pains  of  Hell,  beings  imper- 
fect as  to  good  works,  having  no  claim  upon  Allah,  but 
too  good  for  the  Fire. — You  will  remember  the  classic 
judgment  of  Andrew  Fairservice  in  "  Rob  Roy," 
"  Ower  bad  for  blessing  and  ower  guid  for  banning." — 
The  doctrine  is  of  a  natural  growth  but  it  belongs  to  a 
dying  down  of  the  first  rigours  of  a  faith  and  to  the 
coming  into  play  of  combined  sentiment  and  reason. 
Exactly  the  same  development  has  led  to  the  limbo  of 
the  Roman  theology,  whether  "  limbus  infantum  "  or 
"  limbus  patrum."  In  the  Church  of  Islam  it  has  come 
to  be  a  perfectly  orthodox  and  almost  a  dominant  doc- 


308        KELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

trine.  But  it  was  very  far  from  the  mind  of  Moham- 
med. His,  rather,  would  have  been  the  judgment  of 
Patmos  on  the  Church  of  Laodicea.  "  Because  thou 
art  .  .  .  neither  hot  nor  cold,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of 
my  mouth."  It  is  a  case,  as  I  have  said,  of  theological 
fiction  in  the  most  extreme  form.  We  shall  see,  here- 
after, the  working  to  somewhat  the  same  effect  of  the 
doctrine  of  the  mercy  of  Allah ;  but  that  is  another  doc- 
trine entirely. 

Another  development,  but  this  time  quite  according 
to  the  mind  of  Mohammed,  was  the  doctrine  of  the 
Vision  of  Allah  in  Paradise.  There  are  many  phrases 
in  the  Koran  which  speak  of  the  Face  of  Allah.  In 
some  of  these  the  meaning  is  evidently,  just  as  in  the 
similar  Hebrew  and  Greek  phrases,  Allah  himself ;  but 
in  others  we  are  left  with  the  feeling  that  the  words 
are  to  be  taken  more  literally  and  that  the  force  of  the 
picture  requires  the  face,  in  its  primary  sense,  just  as 
in  the  prayer  to  "  lift  up  the  light  of  Thy  countenance 
upon  us."  Further  I  think  that  there  is  evidence  that 
the  text  (Matt.  18:  10),  which  says  of  the  "angels" 
of  children  that  they  "  do  always  behold  the  face  of  my 
Father  who  is  in  heaven  "  haunted  the  mind  of  Mo- 
hammed, like  so  many  other  disjointed  fragments  held 
in  his  memory.  There  has  grown  up,  therefore,  in 
Islam  a  doctrine  that  the  recompense  in  Paradise  will 
be  twofold.  There  will  be,  first,  the  ordinary  system 
of  rewards  for  good  conduct  and  obedience  in  life — 
ritual,  canonical,  theological,  which  is  described  so 
often  and  fully  in  the  Koran.  To  this  Allah  is,  in  a 
sense,  bound  by  the  terms  of  his  bargain  with  men ;  it 
is  specifically  promised  in  the  Koran  to  those  who  ful- 
fill certain  conditions.  But  it  was  very  early  felt,  and, 
I  think,  by  Mohammed  himself,  that  this  did  not  at  all 
meet  the  case  of  the  especially  chosen  of  Allah,  of  those 


IMMORTALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     309 

Saints  of  his  who  are,  in  the  Moslem  expression, 
"  near  '*  to  him,  whose  Hves  upon  earth  have  been  hved 
in  his  presence  and  to  whom  the  Garden  itself,  if  with- 
out that  presence  of  Allah,  would  mean  little  or  noth- 
ing. All  consideration  of  mysticism  in  Islam — let  me 
here  throw  in — must  be  guided  by  this  conception  of 
the  religious  life  as  a  "  nearness  "  to  God ;  the  saint,  in 
Islam,  is  not,  as  in  our  word,  sancHis,  a  holy  man;  but 
one  of  the  court  of  heaven  here  for  a  time  on  earth. 
Orthodox  Islam  has,  therefore,  formulated  that  there 
is  a  second  recompense  in  Paradise  for  those  fitted  to 
enjoy  it,  which  will  consist  in  the  Beatific  Vision  of 
Allah.  The  specific  basis  for  this  doctrine  consists  of 
an  allusion  in  a  passage  of  the  Koran  (Ixxv,  23)  and 
certain  alleged  traditions  from  Mohammed.  Such  tra- 
ditions are,  as  you  know,  in  high  disrepute  at  present 
with  the  critical  student  of  Islam;  but  in  this  case  they 
give,  I  feel  tolerably  sure,  if  not  the  words,  at  least  the 
mind,  of  Mohammed.  Although  the  doctrine  itself  is 
not  directly  mentioned  In  the  Koran,  a  couple  of  Ko- 
ranic texts  were  early  quoted  in  its  support  (Kor.  x,  37 ; 
Iv,  46,  60;  Ivi,  23-25;  Ixxxiii,  15)  and  when  it  was  as- 
sailed on  the  rationalistic  ground  that,  inasmuch  as 
Allah  is  not  in  any  place  nor  in  space  at  all,  the  laws 
of  vision  cannot  apply  to  him;  a  very  odd  grammatico- 
scholastic  defense  was  found  In  yet  another  Koranic 
text  (viii,  139).  In  the  end,  the  doctrine,  while  ac- 
cepted by  all  orthodox  Islam,  was  brought  under  the 
technical  rubric  of  bild  kayfa,  "  without  how.'*  That 
is,  we  must  accept  the  doctrine  as  fact  although  we  can- 
not explain  its  nature — must  not.  Indeed,  attempt  to  do 
so.  It  Is,  therefore,  for  Islam  a  theological  mystery  to 
the  reality  of  which,  in  spite  of  Its  Inexplicability,  Mos- 
lems have  been  driven  by  the  facts  of  their  religious 
experience.     In  exactly  the  same  way  the  facts  of  ex- 


310       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

perience  drive  us  all  to  the  acceptance  of  a  relationship 
between  the  mind  and  the  body,  while  philosophy,  and 
even  modern  psychology,  have  no  answer  as  to  the  na- 
ture of  that  relationship.  Yet  they  have  seldom  the 
candour  to  call  it  a  philosophical  mystery.  I  lay  some 
stress  upon  this,  not  for  the  sake  of  a  cheap  jibe  at  the 
psychology  before  which  we  all,  at  present,  fall  down 
and  worship,  but  to  show  that  the  theological  positions 
of  Islam  have  a  genuine  foundation  in  experience  and 
have  been  and  can  be  defended  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  analogy. 

Yet  another  development  was  required  by  unre- 
solved elements  in  the  statements  of  Mohammed  him- 
self. In  the  descriptions  in  the  Koran  of  the  Garden 
and  the  Fire  their  inhabitants  are  regularly  described 
as  "  abiding  "  in  them.  This  expression  Islam  has  all 
but  universally  understood  to  refer  to  an  eternal  abid- 
ing. It  was  left  for  mediaeval  scholasticism  to  point 
out  that  the  root  "  to  abide  '*  does  not  necessarily  con- 
note eternity;  but  this,  which  strongly  resembles  the 
arguments  we  all  know  about  seonial  life  in  the  New 
Testament,  has  not  met  with  favour.  Mohammed,  it 
has  been  felt,  while  he  believed  in  a  very  emphatic  hell, 
believed  also  that  those  in  it  would  remain  in  it  to  all 
eternity.  But  Mohammed  had  also  a  very  Pauline 
doctrine  of  Faith,  and  managed  to  combine  it  with  a 
very  Petrlne  doctrine  of  Works.  There  were  also 
greater  sins  and  lesser  sins,  though  the  greater  sins,  in 
Islam,  have  never  assumed  the  importance  which  mor- 
tal sin  bears  in  the  Roman  theology.  There  is,  too,  the 
justice  of  Allah;  but  this  side  of  Allah's  character 
bears  very  little  stress  in  the  Koran.  Even  Moham- 
med seems  to  have  felt  that  it  would  limit  the  absolute- 
ness of  Allah,  as  Fate  limited  Zeus,  and  to  have  shrunk 
instinctively    from    such   conceptions.     Similarly,    he 


IMMOBTALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     311 

never  associated  "  reason  "  with  Allah  and  later  Islam 
has  formally  forbidden  such  a  descriptive.  Then  there 
are  the  threats  and  promises  of  Allah;  these  he  must 
keep  by  his  very  dignity  as  absolute  ruler ;  his  promises 
absolutely,  his  threats  as  modified  by  his  clemency. 
Finally,  there  is  the  Mercy  of  Allah — reiterated  over 
and  over — certainly  Allah's  most  prominent  character- 
istic after  his  absoluteness  of  Unity  and  Will. 

These  elements,  then,  had  to  be  reconciled  in  some 
fashion.  It  is  not  my  business  here  to  enter  on  the 
Moslem  doctrines  of  Salvation,  of  Faith  and  Works, 
of  Predestination  and  Free  Will.  My  present  point  is 
that  a  doctrine  of  purgatory  was  required  in  Islam  and 
that  it  duly  appeared.  Mohammed  himself  had  not,  I 
think,  reached  any  such  idea ;  but  the  complex  of  facts 
which  he  recognized  led  to  it  of  necessity.  The  result 
for  Islam  has  been  that  while  "  the  People  of  the  Fire  " 
are  the  specifically  and  finally  lost,  the  Fire  will  have 
also,  for  a  time,  other  inhabitants  to  whom  it  will  be 
Purgatory  and  who  will  eventually  leave  it  and  be  ad- 
mitted to  the  Garden.  These  are  Moslems  who  have 
died  guilty  of  some  "  great  "  sin  of  which  they  have 
not  repented.  As  Moslems  they  cannot  abide  in  the 
Fire ;  as.  unrepentant  sinners  they  must  be  purified  be- 
fore they  enter  into  the  Garden. 

That  is  the  broad  principle ;  but  a  multitude  of  quali- 
fying possibilities  enter.  First,  the  Mercy  of  Allah, 
upon  which  there  are  no  limits  of  justice  or  consis- 
tency, may  pardon  and  cleanse  even  a  great,  and  in  his 
life  unrepentant,  sinner  and  pass  him  straight  into  the 
Garden.  This  unlimited  Mercy  and  irresponsible  Will 
of  Allah  were  so  stressed  by  one  quite  orthodox  school 
that  another  equally  orthodox  school  said  that  on  these 
premises  there  was  no  reason  why  In  the  end  all  the 
sinners  should  not  be  In  the  Garden  and  all  the  believers 


312       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

in  the  Fire.  Secondly,  the  doctrine  of  early  Arabia 
that  the  dead  man,  combined  body  and  soul,  inhabited 
his  grave  as  in  life  he  had  his  house  was  joined  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  double  judgment,  as  developed  in  the 
Christian  Church ;  that  is,  of  a  lesser  judgment  of  the 
individual  at  death,  and  of  a  greater  judgment  of  all 
men  together  after  the  Resurrection  at  the  Last  Day. 
These  two  apparently  most  separate  ideas  produced, 
when  brought  together,  the  Moslem  doctrine  of  the 
Punishment  of  the  Grave.  It  is  that  the  dead  man  is 
visited  in  his  grave,  on  the  night  after  his  burial,  by  ■ 
two  angels  who  catechize  him  as  to  his  Faith.  If  his 
answers  are  satisfactory  he  rests  thereafter  in  his  grave 
until  the  general  resurrection,  receiving  a  foretaste  of 
the  joys  of  Paradise.  But  if  his  answers  are  not  satis- 
factory his  grave  becomes  a  place  of  torment,  an  antici- 
pation of  what  awaits  him  in  the  Fire.  But  in  this 
punishment  of  the  grave  it  is  possible  that,  if  he  was  a 
believer,  he  may  work  out  his  purgatorial  period  and 
may,  after  the  general  judgment,  be  admitted  directly 
to  the  Garden. 

Thirdly,  there  entered,  in  gradually  extending  width, 
the  doctrine  of  Intercession.     This  doctrine  Moham- 
N,  .  med  had  known  and  had  rejected.     For  him  it  had 
^,  X  been  an  illegitimate  interference  with  the  Will  and 
'  choice  of  Allah.     Especially  as  to  the  final  fates  of 
men  must  that  Will  be  left  unswayed  by  external  influ- 
ences.    But  later  Islam  has  thought  otherwise,   and 
exercising  its  right  to  develop  doctrine  by  Agreement, 
it  has  overridden  the  expressed  word  of  the  Koran  and 
ascribed  a  power,  and  even  right,  of  intercession  to  all 
men  who  by  any  chance  stand  in  special  relation  to 
Allah,  to  Saints,  Prophets  and  especially  to  Mohammed 
himself.     Because  of  this,  at  one  extreme,  the  smaller 
sins  of  a  dead  man  may  be  removed  by  doles  of  food  at 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     313 

his  funeral — the  poor,  and  among  them,  certainly, 
some  "  near  *'  to  Allah,  will  make  intercession  for  him 
— and  at  the  other  extreme,  at  the  Day  of  Judgment 
itself,  the  Prophet  himself  will  intercede  for  his  whole 
People  and  lead  them  all,  and  as  a  whole,  into  the  Gar- 
den. This  is  the  Moslem  Harrowing  of  Hell  and 
marks  the  most  complete  overthrow  of  the  Koranic 
doctrine  of  the  Judgment.  For,  in  the  Koran,  the 
Judgment  is  specifically  Christian,  in  that  it  is  indi- 
vidual and  not  by  peoples  or  religious  communities. 
Each  man  is  to  be  judged  by  himself,  on  Allah's  systerr^t 
of  bookkeeping  and  weighing,  and  must  answer  for: 
himself.  He  has  sent  before  him  good  deeds  to  be  put 
to  his  credit  and  evil  deeds  to  be  registered  against  him. 
He  has  been  attended  by  angels  who  have  written  down 
the  details  of  his  conduct  to  be  filed  in  the  heavenly 
archives.  He  has  made  good  business  with  his  life  or 
is  a  bankrupt  in  the  eyes  of  Allah.  The  soul  (nafs), 
given  to  him,  he  has  purified  or  corrupted  and  it,  that 
is  he  himself,  must  testify  for  and  against  himself. 
None  can  help  him  or  intercede  for  him ;  by  himself  he 
must  stand  or  fall.  At  the  most  he  can  appeal  to  the 
Mercy  of  Allah.  "  But  for  the  Mercy  of  Allah,"  the 
Prophet  said,  or  is  made  to  say  in  a  tradition,  and  this 
tradition  is  for  my  subjectivity  psychologically  prob- 
able, "  not  even  I  shall  enter  the  Garden."  It  is  plain 
how  utterly  opposed  all  this  is  to  the  triumphal  proces- 
sion of  Mohammed  into  Paradise  at  the  head  of  his 
People ;  so  complete  has  been  the  victory  of  the  solidar- 
ity of  Islam  over  the  ethical  faith  of  its  Prophet. 

But  all  this  time  you  have  probably  been  waiting  for 
me  to  deal  with  those  supposed  burning  questions, 
"  Does  woman  have  any  soul  in  Islam ;  and  what  is  her 
position  in  the  Garden?  "  The  answer  must  be  a  little 
complicated.     There  cannot  be  the  slightest  doubt  that 


314       BELIGION  AND  THE  EUTUKE  LIFE 

on  the  point  of  salvability  Mohammed  put  both  men 
and  women  on  the  same  footing ;  women,  for  him,  had 
a  soul  to  be  saved ;  although  I  think  that  he  felt  also 
that  it  would  take  a  good  deal  of  saving.  But  it  is 
equally  plain  that  in  his  picture  in  the  Koran  of  the  life 
in  the  Garden  human  women  play  no  part ;  it  is  an  en- 
tirely masculine  Paradise.  Where,  then,  are  the  be- 
lieving women  ?  The  Koran  does  not  tell  us,  and  even 
the  standard  collections  of  traditions,  containing  those 
regarded  as  most  authentic,  have  very  little  on  the  sub- 
ject. There  is  more  in  such  collections  as  deal  with 
eschatology ;  but  the  fact  is  that  Mohammed,  and  after 
him,  the  general  body  of  Moslems,  did  not  and  do  not 
like  the  subject  and  consider  it  only  when  driven  by 
technical  necessity.  Yet  Moslem  writers  and  even 
theologians,  as  you  probably  know,  are  by  no  means 
squeamish  in  discussing  the  most  intimate  relations  be- 
tween men  and  women.  Their  literature  like  their 
Paradise  is  masculine.  What,  then,  is  the  explanation 
of  this  reticence,  first  in  Mohammed  and  later  among 
Moslems  in  general?  I  can  only  make  guesses,  but  I 
would  risk  the  following.  You  will  remember  a  pas- 
sage in  which  Montaigne  (Essais,  Livre  III,  chap.  5) 
explains  the  attitude  of  respect  which  his  code  required 
him  to  maintain  toward  his  wedded  wife.  It  was  an 
attitude  which,  to  our  mind,  must  have  kept  her  a  good 
deal  outside  of  his  intimate  life.  Montaigne,  per- 
haps, was  not  a  conspicuous  example  of  Christianity; 
but  his  attitude  was  not,  I  think,  individual  in  his  time, 
and  it  goes  a  good  way  to  make  real  to  us,  and  grasp- 
able  by  us,  the  attitude  of  Moslems  of  honour  toward 
their  women  of  honour.  It  means  not  only  a  code 
which  forbids,  but  also  an  attitude  which  shrinks  from 
considering  and  which  takes  for  granted.  Montaigne's 
own  statement  was  an  infringement  of  it  and  an  illus- 


IMMORTALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     315 

tration  of  the  Pepys-like  frankness  of  his  Essais.  This 
conception,  as  you  will  of  course  see,  is  vital  to  the 
status  of  women  in  Islam,  and  indeed  in  the  whole 
East ;  but  I  cannot  pursue  it  further  here. 

Again,  you  may  remember  the  deceased  old  lady 
who  came  back  through  Mrs.  Piper  and  testified  that 
her  new  surroundings  were  "  more  secular  "  than  she 
had  expected.  That  is  essentially  the  w^ay  in  which  the 
Paradise  of  the  Koran  strikes  us ;  it  is  distinctly  more 
secular  than  our  current  notions  of  heaven.  Also  it  is 
more  masculine,  and,  although  we  are  accustomed  to 
hearing  Islam  called  a  "  masculine  religion,"  this  seems 
a  rather  violent  extension.  But  the  Paradise  of  the 
Koran  and  of  Islam  is — I  do  not  speak  here  of  the 
super-ecstatics  of  the  mystics — simply  the  secular 
and  masculine  world  of  Moslems  rather  touched  up,  of 
course,  as  to  its  enjoyments.  It  is  an  idealized,  glori- 
fied reflection  of  the  social  life  of  the  Moslem  men,  into 
which  their  women  of  honour  never  in  the  slightest 
enter.  Naturally  when  that  life  was  expressed  sub 
specie  etcrnitatis,  these  women  could  have  no  part  in 
the  picture.  How  much  evil  this  has  meant  for  Islam 
I  need  hardly  say.  And  the  evil  lies  at  Mohammed's 
own  door.  For  the  old  life  of  Arabia,  like  the  present- 
day  life  of  the  unsophisticated  desert,  was  far  more  fa- 
vourable to  the  easy  social  intercourse  of  men  and 
women  of  good  reputation.  It  would  be  difficult  to 
construct  a  picture  of  pre-Moslem  Arabia,  in  which 
such  intercourse  did  not  play  a  large  part.  And  the 
matter  goes  farther.  The  early  Moslems  themselves 
observed  a  marked  degeneration  In  the  sexual  life  of 
Islam  from  that  of  the  old  pre-Moslem  life.  We  can 
ourselves  see  the  same  reflected  In  the  surviving  litera- 
ture. Rough  and  violent  as  the  old  life  was — no  more 
a  beautiful  life  than  our  own  ages  of  chivalry — it  was 


316       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

clean  in  thought  and  expression  compared  with  that  of 
Islam.  The  exclusion  of  respectable  women  from 
public  social  intercourse  had  its  inevitable  conse- 
quences, and  that  exclusion  must  be  traced  back  to 
Mohammed  himself.  And  it  is  that  attitude  which  we 
see  reflected  in  the  pictures  of  Paradise  in  the  Koran. 
But,  again,  as  I  said  above,  I  can  only  touch  on  this 
subject  here.  An  informed  and  honest  History  of 
Woman  under  Islam  has  still  to  be  written. 

But  there  is  another  side  of  the  matter  upon  which 
I  must  enter  because  it  has  led  already  to  an  enormous 
amount  of  confusion.  There  is  much  evidence  that 
amongst  Turks,  at  least,  and  these  not  only  of  the  un- 
educated masses,  women  are  regarded  as  not  having 
souls,  at  any  rate  on  the  same  footing  as  men.  This 
idea  can  be  traced  in  European  descriptions  of  the 
East,  at  least  back  to  Lady  Mary  Wortley  Montague 
(Letters,  Everyman  ed.,  pp.  140,  175).  Her  testimony 
admits  the  souls  but  surrounds  them  with  qualifications. 
This  will,  probably,  be  more  than  confirmed  by  every 
missionary  at  the  present  day  to  the  Turks.  I  have 
had  such  confirmation  myself  from  several.  Further, 
according  to  Lady  Mary  Montague,  the  future  status 
of  women  in  Paradise  is  connected  with  child-bearing, 
and  this  is  confirmed  by  some  of  the  few  traditions  in 
Arabic  on  the  subject.  Wc  have,  in  fact,  an  echo  of 
1  Timothy  2:  15  as  to  women  being  saved  through 
child-bearing,  which,  in  turn,  goes  back  to  Genesis 
3 :  15,  16."  Others  connect  that  status  with  the  stand- 
ing of  the  woman  in  the  eyes  of  her  husband  in  this 
world.     Generally,  I  fear  that  Islam  does  not  regard 

"I  need  not  say  that  I  know  the  modern  interpretation — to 
come  safely  through  chtld-l)carini^  (Moffat,  We\Tnonth,  etc.)  — 
but  I  cannot  accept  it.  It  ignores  the,  to  me  certain,  reference 
to  Genesis. 


IMMORTALITY  m  MOHAMMEDANISM     317 

the  old  maid — such  few  as  it  has — with  favour,  and 
does  not  assign  her  any  high  rank  in  the  Garden.  Fi- 
nally, no  Moslem  theologian  would  dream  of  denying 
that  women  have  souls,  of  exactly  the  same  kind  as 
men,  and  in  exactly  the  same  degree  as  men.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  Turks  is  probably  a  lingering  relic  of  their 
pre-Moslem  beliefs;  there  are  many  such  contradictory 
survivals  in  the  syncretisms  of  Islam. 

But  even  after  all  this,  the  Moslems  were  left  with 
that  fundamental,  philosophical  question,  *'  What  is 
Spirit  ?  "  Into  the  ultimate  developments  to  which 
that  question  led  them,  I  cannot  possibly  enter.  It 
would  conduct  us  through  all  the  forms  of  mysticism 
and  into  all  the  phases  of  Pantheism.  It  might  bring 
us  out  into  a  Nirvana,  where  the  individual  vanishes 
entirely  in  the  One,  or  into  multitudinous  Paradises, 
each  the  dream  of  its  inhabitant.  In  avoiding  such 
complications  I  hold  by  the  clue  of  possible  orthodoxy 
— what  can  a  Moslem  hold  as  answer  to  that  question 
and  still  remain  within  the  pale  of  normal  Islam  ? 

For  Moslems  the  most  absolute  division  of  all  ex- 
istent things  is  into  the  Creator  and  his  Creation.  But 
what  does  this  mean  as  to  the  difference  between  these 
two?  Going  beyond  the  question  of  origin,  a  gulf  of 
fundamental  nature  had  to  be  fixed.  So  the  Moslem 
world  passed,  in  its  conception  of  Allah,  the  Creator, 
from  a  crass  anthropomorphism  to  a  vague  and  imagi- 
native spiritualization,  while  its  conception  of  the  cre- 
ated world  In  all  its  parts — the  solid  earth,  mankind  in 
body  and  soul,  the  jinn,  the  Satans  and  the  Angels — 
remained  material,  of  one  density  or  another.  To  this 
view,  spirit  was  only  breath — a  highly  tenuous  matter. 
But,  in  spite  of  our  modern  occultists  who  assert  that 
the  soul  of  man  weighs  between  two  ounces  and  two 
ounces  and  a  half,  even  Islam  found  itself  unable,  in 


318       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

the  long  run,  to  maintain  this  materiaHty.  The  phe- 
nomena of  thought,  the  experiences  of  rehgious  emo- 
tion, the  working  of  dreams  convinced  Moslem  think- 
ers that  there  was  in  themselves  a  something  akin  to 
the  Deity,  if  dependent  upon  the  Deity,  and  absolutely 
different  from  their  bodies.  Their  conception,  too,  of 
the  nature  of  God  expanded;  an  existence  apart  from 
space  and  from  time  entered  their  possibilities; 
*'  spirit  "  in  the  philosophical  sense  was  reached.  To 
their  idea  of  God,  thus  clarified  and  made  more  precise, 
their  idea  of  man  had  to  be  adjusted. 

But,  naturally,  all  Moslems  could  not  and  did  not 
follovs^  this  development.  Among  ourselves  the  con- 
ception of  spirit  as  highly  attenuated  matter  is  not,  I 
fear,  quite  extinct,  and  the  ''  etheric  body,"  of  which 
we  hear  now,  probably  owes  some  of  its  popularity  to 
its  freedom  from  metaphysical  strain  on  the  powers  of 
thought.  Among  Moslem  theologians  the  spirituality 
of  spirit  was  taught  by  al-Ghazzali,  at  the  end  of  the 
eleventh  and  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  centuries 
A.  D. ;  but  even  then  only  in  tractates  intended  for  theo- 
logical specialists.  The  absolute  anthropomorphist  re- 
mained— and  still  remains — for  whom  God  was  a  gi- 
gantic man  in  the  sky,  and  even  the  scholastic  theolo- 
gians who  passed  beyond  such  crudities  declined  to  ad- 
mit that  the  soul  of  man  could  be  spirit  in  the  same 
sense  that  God  is  spirit.  For  al-Ghazzali  himself, 
however,  man's  spirit  was  derived  from  God  and  was 
the  link  between  him  and  God.  It  is  thus  similar  to 
God,  though  I  doubt  whether  he  would  have  said  that  it 
is  the  same  as  God.  We  are  back  at  the  old  and  vital 
distinction  between  6fj.t,u>ij(no^  and  6i±oob<no<s.  The 
category  of  space  does  not  apply  to  the  spirit  of  man 
any  more  than  It  applies  to  God,  just  as  you  cannot 
predicate  knowledge  or  ignorance  of  a  stone.     On  this 


IMMOETALITY  IN  MOHAMMEDANISM     319 

new  view  of  the  spirit  of  man  the  difference  between  it 
and  God  consists  in  the  dependence  of  man's  spirit 
upon  God.  This  is  what  the  Koran  means  when  it 
says  that  Allah  breathed  into  man  some  of  his  spirit 
and  what  the  tradition  means  when  it  says  that  man 
was  created  in  the  image  of  Allah. 

I  have  little  question  that  in  this  al-Ghazzali  reached 
what  was  really  the  mind  of  Mohammed,  although 
Mohammed  had  not  worked  out  his  thought  into  clar- 
ity even  for  himself.  Mohammed's  own  spiritual  ex- 
perience had  been  far  too  real  and  vivid  to  leave  him  in 
any  doubt  that  there  was  an  abiding  connection  be- 
tween the  soul  and  God.  His  polemic  against  polythe- 
ism might  drive  him  to  expressions  which  describe  a 
God  afar  off;  but  he  knew  that  God  was  working  in  his 
own  heart  and  was  nearer  to  him  than  breathing  and 
than  life  itself. 

In  consequence,  the  position  of  al-Ghazzali  has  be- 
come a  possible  one  to-day  for  the  orthodox  Moslem. 
VVahhabites   may   violently   protest;    scholastics   may 
quibble  and  except ;  canonists  may  fear  and  doubt ;  the 
spirituality  of  the  spirit  is  on  its  way  to  acceptance  in 
Islam.     And  with  it  there  has  entered  a  threefold  view 
of  the  nature  of  the  world  to  come — of  both  the  Gar- 
den and  the  Fire.     Their  pleasures  and  pains  will  vary 
according  to  the  development  of  their  inhabitants.    For 
those  whose  physical  natures  only  have  been  developed 
these  will  be  of  the  senses;  you  remember,  of  course, 
that  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh,  for  Islam,  is  literal ;  . 
it  is  a  natural  and  not  a  spiritual  body  which  enters/ 
eternity.     But  there  will  be  also,  for  those  who  have 
reached  that  degree,  pleasures  and  pains  produced  by 
the  picturing  faculty  in  the  imagination.     We  know 
how  real  these  can  be  in  dreaming.     But  In  the  world 
to  come  they  will  be  continuous  and  under  the  control 


320       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

of  the  will.  This  is  the  meaning  of  a  tradition  from 
the  Prophet.  *'  In  the  Garden  there  is  a  market  where 
pictures  (suzvar)  are  sold."  And,  third,  the  physical 
descriptions  in  the  Koran  can  also  be  interpreted  in 
terms  of  the  reason,  just  as  a  dream  interpreter  de- 
duces general  ideas  from  the  concrete  details  of  the 
dream,  which  a  dreamer  asks  him  to  explain.  Thus  the 
joys  of  Paradise  can  be  turned  into  intellectual  pleas- 
ures for  those  whose  only  true  joys  are  those  of  the 
mind.  For  it  is  of  the  essence  of  Paradise  that  every 
man  should  find  in  It  what  he  desires. 

And  these  joys  and  pains,  whatever  their  nature,  will 
never  cease,  for  the  Garden  and  the  Fire,  with  their  in- 
habitants, continue  eternally.  Orthodox  Islam  defi- 
nitely rejects  any  winding  up  of  the  whole  matter  by  a 
sweeping  out  of  existence  of  the  creation.  Some  ex- 
treme heretical,  mostly  mystical,  sects  sought  an  escape 
from  their  difficulties  by  such  a  tabula  rasa  that  would 
leave  Allah  throned  alone  as  he  had  been  before  he 
made  the  worlds.  But  the  instinct  of  Islam  evidently 
felt  that  the  continuing  existence  of  the  creation  was  as 
pressing  a  necessity  as  the  existence  of  Allah  himself. 
That  is  the  end  of  it  all — the  Garden  and  the  Fire  and 
Allah  continuing  unchanged  and  unchangeable  to  all 
eternity. 


XII 

LIFE  AFTER  DEATH 
E.  Hershey  Sneath 

ONE  cannot  study  the  history  of  religions  with- 
out being  profoundly  impressed  by  the  fact 
that  belief  in  the  soul's  survival  after  death 
seems  to  be  almost  universal.  So  eminent  an  authority 
as  Sir  James  Frazer  says:  "  The  question  whether  our 
conscious  personality  survives  after  death  has  been 
answered  by  almost  all  races  of  men  in  the  affirmative. 
On  this  point  sceptical  or  agnostic  peoples  are  nearly, 
if  not  wholly,  unknown."  '  The  antiquity  of  the  be- 
lief is  especially  impressive.  In  a  recent  work  on 
Spiritism  and  the  Cult  of  the  Dead  in  Antiquity' 
Professor  Paton  calls  attention  to  the  fact,  that  ''  The 
Paleolithic  cave-dwellers  of  the  Ouarternary  period  in 
Belgium  and  France  were  contemporary  with  the 
mammoth,  the  cave-lion,  and  the  cave-bear.  Their 
skulls  show  that  they  were  nearer  the  apes  than  any 
existing  race  of  man.  They  were  dressed  in  skins, 
and  armed  only  with  the  rudest  undressed  stone  imple- 
ments ;  yet  they  placed  with  their  dead  ornaments,  tools, 
arms,  and  food  for  use  in  the  other  life,  and  celebrated 
funeral  feasts  in  their  honour."  He  also  says,  "  The 
same  was  true  of  the  cave-dwellers  of  the  Neolithic 
^ge.^     ...     In  the  Neolithic  caves  of  France  the 

^Frazer,  The  Belief  in  Immortality,  London,  1913,  Vol.  I,  p.  33. 
^  Paton,  Spiritism  and  the  Cult  of  the  Dead  in  Antiquity,  N.  Y., 
1921,  pp.  2-3. 
^  D'Alviella,  Hihhert  Lectures,  pp.  14-19. 

321 


322       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

skulls  of  the  dead  are  trepanned.  Whether  this  was 
intended  to  facilitate  the  entrance  and  egress  of  the 
spirit  or  to  make  an  amulet  for  the  survivors,  it  bears 
witness  to  some  sort  of  cult  of  the  dead.  In  the 
Neolithic  caves  of  Palestine,  that  were  inhabited  by  a 
pre-Semitic  race,  offerings  of  food  and  drink  were 
deposited  with  the  dead  and  their  bones  were  used 
as  amulets."  * 

Later,  we  find  belief  in  the  soul's  survival  a  con- 
spicuous factor  in  all  of  the  more  highly  organized 
religions.  This  is  evident  from  the  perusal  of  the 
preceding  chapters  of  this  volume.  It  is  apparent  that 
it  was  prominent  in  the  Egyptian  religion — in  both 
the  Solar  and  Osirian  faiths.  The  pyramid  texts, 
which  indicate  a  belief  in  the  survival  of  kings  after 
s)  death,  and  the  Book  of  the  Dead,  in  which  belief  is 
shown  to  be  much  more  democratic,  furnish  abundant 
evidence  that  the  early  Egyptians  v/ere  much  given  to 
this  belief.  It  was  quite  prominent  also  in  the  Babylo- 
nian and  Assyrian  religion  as  is  manifest,  for  instance, 
in  the  poem  Ishtafs  Descent  to  the  Lozver  World 
which  is  descriptive  of  the  underworld  or  the  abode  of 
the  dead.  It  is  present,  too,  in  much  of  the  religion  of 
India.  The  Vedas  and  the  Upanishads  reveal  this. 
It  plays  a  part,  also,  in  the  religion  of  Greece  as  the 
Homeric  poetry  and  the  Mysteries  testify.  In  such  an 
ethical  religion  as  Zoroastrianism  one  does  not  wonder 
that  belief  in  the  future  life  should  be  a  marked  fea- 
ture. Even  in  Confucianism,"  which  concerns  itself  so 
largely  with  the  present  life,  it  is  more  or  less  active. 

This  belief  appears,  also,  in  the  development  of  the 
Hebrew  religion.     In  the  pre-Mosaic  period  essentially 

*  Palestine  Exploration  Fund,  Quarterly  Statement,   1902,  pp. 
347ff. 

'  Cf .  Dawson,  The  Ethics  of  Confucius,  N.  Y.,  1905,  Ch.  VII. 


/ 


LIFE  AFTER  DEATH  323 

the  same  ideas  on  this  subject  prevail  as  among  other 
Semites.  Even  after  the  estabhshment  of  Yahweh 
worship,  many  continued  in  their  inherited  faith  con- 
cerning the  future  Hfe.  Gradually  ethical  considera- 
tions gave  rise  to  the  question  of  retribution.  At  first 
the  attempted  solution  of  the  problem  did  not  involve 
the  individual's  life  after  death.  Family  and  tribal 
retribution  met  the  moral  demands.  But  from  the 
time  of  Job  down  through  the  apocalyptic  writers  we 
find  Jewish  belief  in  retribution  after  death.  It  is,  of 
course,  part  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus,  and  has  been 
fundamental  in  the  faith  of  His  followers  for  nearly 
two  thousand  years, — the  love,  fatherhood  and  good- 
ness of  God,  the  worth  of  the  individual,  and  the 
resurrection  of  Christ,  constituting  the  guarantees  of 
faith  in  immortality.  Mohammedanism,  also,  pro- 
claims this  belief.  It  is  involved  in  its  teachings  with 
reference  to  a  Judgment  Day,  Paradise  and  Hell. 

Thus  the  history  of  religion  shows,  that  from  very 
early  times  down  to  the  present  this  idea  of  the  future 
Hfe  has  been  conspicuous  in  man's  religious  belief; 
and,  as  religion  has  been  one  of  the  most  potent  forces 
in  the  evolution  of  the  race,  contributing  in  its  nobler 
forms  to  the  realization  and  conservation  of  the  highest 
values  of  the  individual  and  of  society,  belief  in  the 
life  hereafter  has  made  a  most  substantial  contribu- 
tion to  human  character  and  progress. 

But  not  only  has  the  idea  of  life  beyond  death 
engaged  the  religious  nature  of  man,  it  has  been  a 
subject  of  profound  interest  to  his  rational  nature  as 
well.  In  the  Introduction  to  his  immortal  Critique  of 
Pure  Reason,  Kant  tells  us  that  there  are  certain  great 
problems  concerning  which  "  reason  prosecutes  its  in- 
vestigations, which  by  their  importance  we  consider 
far  more  excellent  and  by  their  tendency  far  more 


324        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

elevated  than  anything  the  understanding  can  find  in 
the  sphere  of  phenomena.  Nay,"  he  adds,  **  we  risk 
rather  anything,  even  at  the  peril  of  error,  than  that 
we  should  surrender  such  investigations,  either  on  the 
ground  of  their  uncertainty,  or  from  any  feeling  of 
indifference  or  contempt."  *  In  the  second  edition  of 
the  Critique  the  great  philosopher  informs  us  that 
"  these  inevitable  problems  of  pure  reason  itself  are 
God,  Freedom  and  Immortality."  ' 

If  we  study  carefully  the  history  of  philosophy  with 
reference  to  the  third  problem  mentioned  by  Kant,  we 
find  his  statement  abundantly  verified.  Almost  from 
the  dawn  of  speculative  thought  down  to  its  latest 
utterance,  we  note  this  problem  has  seriously  engaged 
the  philosophic  mind.  Pythagoras  and  the  Pythagore- 
ans, Heraclitus  and  Empedocles,  Socrates,  Plato  and 
Aristotle,  Epicurus  and  Lucretius,  Zeno  and  Cicero, 
Cleanthus  and  Chrysippus,  Seneca  and  Epictetus, 
Plotinus  and  other  Neo-Platonists,  are  conspicuous 
among  those  in  Greek  and  Grccco-Roman  thought  who 
were  led  to  earnest  reflection  upon  it,  advancing  rea- 
sons for  or  against  belief  in  the  soul's  immortal 
destiny. 

A  religion  that  places  such  emphasis  on  immortality 
as  does  the  Christian  religion  could  not  fail  to  enlist 
the  services  of  its  more  philosophic  sympathizers  in 
furnishing  reasons  for  its  faith.  Hence,  all  through 
early  and  medieval  Christian  history  we  find  minds 
dealing  with  it  from  the  standpoint  of  reflective 
thought.  In  the  Patristic  Philosophy  prior  to  the 
Council  of  Nice  we  find  men  like  Justin  Martyr, 
Irenaeus,  Tertullian,  Origen  and  Lactantius,  earnestly 

^Critique  of  Purr  Reason,  trans,  by  Max  Muller,  Vol.  II. 
London,  i88i,  Int.  pp.  2-3. 


LIFE  AFTER  DEATH  325 

engaged  in  the  consideration  of  this  subject.  After 
the  Council  of  Nice  down  to  the  rise  of  the  Scholastic 
Philosophy  the  soul's  survival  after  death  is  still  a 
prominent  subject  in  the  writings  of  the  Church 
Fathers.  This  is  evident  in  the  works  of  Gregory  of 
Nyssa,  Augustine,  Nemesius  and  others.  Later, 
Thomas  Aquinas,  probably  more  than  any  of  the 
Schoolmen,  devotes  the  attention  of  his  powerful  mind 
to  a  rational  interpretation  and  defense  of  this  article 
of  Christian  belief. 

In  modern  philosophy  it  receives  the  attention  of 
Malebranche  and  Spinoza,  of  Leibnitz  and  Locke,  of 
Berkeley  and  Hume.  It  looms  large  in  the  philo- 
sophical controversies  occasioned  by  Deism  and  Mate- 
rialism in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  We 
note  this  in  the  writings  of  Samuel  Clarke,  Andrew 
Baxter,  Bishop  Butler  and  some  of  the  French  Ency- 
clopaedists. Later,  in  Germany,  Kant,  Fichte,  Hegel, 
Schopenhauer,  von  Hartmann,  Lotze  and  Fechner, 
could  not  escape  the  fascination  of  this  problem,  and 
their  attempted  solutions  furnish,  in  some  cases,  en- 
couragement, and  in  others,  discouragement  to  the 
would-be  believer. 

Nor  has  contemporary  philosophy  been  found  want- 
ing in  this  respect.  This  is  evident  from  the  mono- 
graphs on  immortality  by  Fiske,  Sabatier,  James, 
Howison,  Royce,  Holmes,  Galloway  and  others. 
Philosophy  is  preeminently  a  rational  discipline,  and 
this  long  line  of  thinking  men  who  *'  aimed  to  see  life 
steadily  and  to  see  it  whole,"  and  most  of  whom 
thought  that  "  to  see  it  whole  "  Involves  a  vision  of 
life's  continuance  after  death,  demonstrates  the  truth 
of  Kant's  remark,  "  that  we  risk  rather  anything,  even 
at  the  peril  of  error,  than  that  we  should  surrender 
such  investigations,  either  on  the  ground  of  their  un- 


326       EELIGION  AlTD  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

certainty,  or  from  any  feeling  of  indifference  or  con- 
tempt." "  Inevitable,"  indeed,  is  the  problem,  and 
inevitable  will  it  continue  to  be  with  rational  man  until 
hope  and  faith  issue  into  knowledge ;  for  man,  invested 
with  reason,  is  bound  to  raise  the  questions  of  origin, 
nature  and  destiny. 

The  poets,  also,  have  found  this  to  be  an  **  inevitable 
problem."  A  considerable  portion  of  religious  belief 
on  this  subject  referred  to  in  the  preceding  chapters  is 
embodied  in  poetical  writings.  This  is  manifest  in 
Brahmanism,  in  the  Babylonian  and  Assyrian  religion, 
in  the  religion  of  Greece,  also  in  that  of  the  Hebrews, 
and  in  the  religion  of  Ancient  Persia.  In  addition  to 
this,  the  history  of  poetry  reveals  many  poets  interested 
in  this  momentous  question.  This  is  true  of  Virgil, 
Dante,  Shakespeare,  Milton,  Goethe,  Sir  John  Davies, 
Donne,  Addison,  Henry  More,  Pope,  Cowper,  Young, 
Burns,  Byron,  Shelley,  Southey,  Coleridge,  Words- 
worth, Browning,  Tennyson,  Longfellow,  Whittier, 
Bryant,  Lowell  and  many  poets  of  lesser  note.  Some 
poets  have  approached  the  subject  from  the  standpoint 
of  reason,  as  the  philosopher  does,  trying  to  determine 
if  possible  a  rational  basis  for  faith,  and  then  embody- 
ing their  reasoning  and  conclusions  in  verse.  Some 
have  approached  it  from  the  standpoint  of  mystical 
intuition  in  which  they  seem  to  be  introduced  to  a 
transcendental  world  involving  the  soul's  immortal  ex- 
istence. Others,  as  in  the  case  of  Wordsworth  and 
Tennyson,  deal  with  it  from  both  the  rational  and 
mystical  points  of  view.  Still  others  simply  embody 
in  their  verse  an  inherited  or  traditional  faith.  How- 
ever the  approach,  the  poet,  like  the  philosopher,  seems 
unable  to  escape  the  consideration  of  this  vital  subject. 
With  him,  as  with  his  rationalistic  brother,  it  is  an 
"  inevitable  problem." 


LIFE  AFTER  DEATH  327 

In  the  domain  of  science  the  continuance  of  life  after 
death  has  not  constituted  a  subject  of  much  investiga- 
tion. What  Professor  Ostwald  says  of  the  chemist 
and  physicist  of  to-day  doubtless  appUes  to  workers  in 
these  fields  in  the  past.  He  says:  "If  a  chemist  or 
physicist  of  to-day  is  asked  about  his  ideas  on  im- 
mortality, his  first  feeling  will  be  that  of  astonish- 
ment. He  meets  with  no  question  in  his  work  which 
is  connected  with  this  one,  and  his  reply  may  usually 
be  classified  under  one  of  two  heads.  He  may  remem- 
ber the  religious  impressions  which  have  clung  to  him 
since  his  youth,  kept  alive  by  him  or  nearly  forgotten, 
as  the  case  may  be,  and  he  will  then  explain  that  such 
questions  are  in  no  way  connected  with  his  science ;  for 
the  objects  treated  by  his  science  are  non-living  mat- 
ter. This  is  immediately  evident  in  physics,  and  while 
there  exists  an  organic  chemistry,  he  will  explain  that 
any  matter  which  is  called  organic  in  his  sense  is 
decidedly  dead  before  it  can  become  the  object  of  his 
investigation.  It  is  only  the  inanimate  part  of  the 
world  which  concerns  him  scientifically,  and  any  ideas 
he  may  hold  about  the  question  of  immortality  are  his 
private  opinions  and  quite  independent  of  his  science. 
Or  he  may  dismiss  his  interlocutor  still  more  shortly 
by  saying  from  his  standpoint  of  matter-and-motion: 
Soul  is  a  function  of  living  matter  only.  The  moment 
life  ceases  In  an  organized  body  the  value  of  this 
function  becomes  zero,  and  there  is  no  further  question 
about  immortality."  ^  Some  see  in  the  theories  of 
the  conservation  of  energy  and  evolution  indica- 
tions of  the  soul's  immortality.  Of  late.  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge,  Dr.  Hyslop  and  other  workers  in  the  field  of 
psychic  research  have  thought  that  life  after  death  is 
within   the    possibilities    of    scientific    demonstration. 

^Ostwald,  Individuality  and  Immortality,  Boston,  1906,  pp.  4-5. 


328       RELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

However,  meager  as  have  been  the  serious  attempts  at 
investigation  of  this  subject  and  their  results  in  the 
scientific  realm,  it  seems  destined  to  become  more 
and  more  an  '*  inevitable  problem,"  and  there  are  many 
v^ho  hope  that  sooner  or  later  Science  may  be  able  to 
throve  some  light  into  "  the  dark  valley  of  the  shadov^ 
of  death." 

Thus  v^e  see  how  deeply  concerned  with  this  vital 
question  religion,  philosophy  and  poetry  have  been. 
They  represent  the  highest  activities  of  the  human 
mind.  The  greatest  religious  prophets  and  teachers, 
and  the  greatest  philosophers  and  poets  but  reflect  the 
common  interest.  Death  raises  the  question  of  sur- 
vival in  the  mind  of  the  average  man.  He  cannot 
escape  the  question,  "  Whither  am  I  going?  "  or  the  old 
interrogative,  "If  a  man  die,  shall  he  live  again?" 
There  can  be  little  doubt  of  the  truth  of  Sir  James 
Frazer's  remark:  ''If  abstract  truth  could  be  deter- 
mined, like  the  gravest  issues  of  national  policy,  by  a 
show  of  hands  or  a  counting  of  heads,  the  doctrine  of 
human  immortality,  or  at  least  of  a  life  after  death, 
would  desei*ve  to  rank  among  the  most  firmly  estab- 
lished of  truths;  for  were  the  question  put  to  the 
vote  of  the  whole  of  mankind,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
that  the  ayes  would  have  it  by  an  overwhelming  ma- 
jority. The  few  dissenters  would  be  overborne ;  their 
voices  would  be  drowned  in  the  general  roar."  * 

When  we  seriously  reflect  upon  this  widespread  in- 
terest in  life  after  death  we  are  led  to  inquire  into  its 
ultimate  sources  in  human  nature.  It  is  a  most  inter- 
esting problem  in  the  Psychology  of  Religion.  The 
more  searching  the  inquiry  the  more  does  this  Interest 
and  belief  appear  to  be  rooted  in  the  entire  psychical 
being  of  man.  It  seems  to  be  the  outgrowth  of  his 
'Op.  cit,  p.  23. 


LIFE  AFTER  DEATH  329 

constitution  as  rational,  social,  aesthetic,  moral  and  re- 
ligious. It  surely  is  a  demand  of  our  rational  nature. 
As  rational,  man  inquires  into  the  causes  and  meaning 
of  things  and  life.  It  is  not  only  impossible  for  many 
to  form  any  adequate  philosophy  of  life  and  human 
history,  and,  indeed,  of  the  entire  cosmic  order,  with- 
out viewing  them  in  the  light  of 

"  one  far-off,  divine  event 
To  which  the  whole  creation  moves," 

which  event  includes  the  soul's  immortality.  Without 
such  a  goal  the  entire  universe  seems  "  darkness  at  the 
core."  So  profoundly  interested  in  this  question  is 
the  rational  mind  that  not  less  than  twenty  arguments 
for  belief  in  the  soul's  immortality  appear  in  the 
history  of  philosophic  thought,  and  one  of  the  most 
forceful  of  these  is  based  on  the  ultimate  unintelligi- 
bility  or  meaninglessness  of  life  and  the  world-order 
if  we  cannot  view  them  from  the  standpoint  of  some 
final  end  or  goal  that  involves  personal  immortality. 

But  belief  in  life  after  death  seems  also  to  be  rooted 
in  man's  social  nature.  It  gives  rise  to,  and  affects 
belief  in,  the  future  life.  In  his  book  entitled  The 
Destiny  of  Man,  Fiske  calls  attention  to  the  prolonged 
infancy  of  man  compared  with  that  of  the  animal. 
Jevons  emphasizes  the  fact  that  because  of  this  the 
parental  affections  must  have  been  strong  in  primitive 
man  to  have  enabled  man  to  survive  the  struggle  for 
existence.  That  these  affections  were  strong  is  mani- 
fest in  lamentations  for  the  dead.'"  Many  examples 
of  these  are  cited  by  anthropologists."  Such  examples, 
despite  the  fear  of  departed  ancestors  so  common  in 

"Jevons,  Int.  to  the  History  of  Religion,  Fifth  ed.,  I^ondon, 
"Cf.  Tyler,  Primitive  Culture,  London,  1871,  Vol.  il. 


330       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

primitive  man,  make  it  evident  that  belief  in  the  future 
life  is  deeply  rooted  in  the  affections  of  man.  These 
affections  have  such  value  as  to  impel  him  to  demand 
their  perpetuity.     Especially  is  this  true  of  love. 

"Alas  !  for  love,  if  thou  art  all, 
And  naught  beyond,  O  Earth !  " 

So  precious  is  this  emotion  that  to  rob  it  of  its  object 
forever  and  cancel  the  being  capable  of  experiencing  it, 
seems  irreconcilable  with  its  intrinsic  worth.  Indeed ! 
with  some  minds  it  is  questioned  whether  love  were 
possible  at  all  on  the  basis  of  its  mortality;  or  if  so, 
whether  it  would  rise  much  above  brutish  passion. 
Evidently  so  it  appeared  to  Tennyson: 

"  Yet  if  some  voice  that  man  could  trust 

Should  murmur  from  the  narrow  house, 
'  The  cheeks  drop  in ;  the  body  bows ; 
Man  dies :  nor  is  there  hope  in  dust ;  * 

**  Might  I  not  say  ?     *  Yet  even  here. 
But  for  one  hour,  O  Love,  I  strive 
To  keep  so  sweet  a  thing  alive : ' 

But  I  should  turn  mine  ears  and  hear 

"  The  moaning  of  the  homeless  sea. 

The  sound  of  streams  that  swift  or  slow 
Draw  down  Ionian  hills,  and  sow 
The  dust  of  continents  to  be. 

"  O  me,  what  profits  it  to  put 

An  idle  case?     If  Death  were  seen 
At  first  as  Death,  Love  had  not  been, 
Or  been  in  narrowest  working  shut, 

"  Mere  fellowship  of  sluggish  moods, 
Or  in  his  coarsest  Satyr-shape 
Had  bruised  the  herb  and  crush'd  the  grape. 
And  bask'd  and  batten'd  in  the  woods." 


LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH  331 

The  demand  of  the  social  nature  that  love  should  be 
immortal  is  undoubtedly  a  powerful  influence  in  de- 
termining belief  in  immortality.  Its  value  is  such  that 
human  nature  protests  against  the  extinction  of  its 
object  and  of  itself.  It  feels  that  ''  love  can  never 
lose  its  own ''  and  is  itself  worthy  of  immortal  life. 

Esthetic  considerations,  also,  have  influenced  man 
in  forming  this  belief  in  life  after  death.  The  in- 
completeness of  life  without  an  immortal  perspective 
is  hostile  not  only  to  our  rational  and  moral,  but  to 
our  aesthetic  nature  as  well.  We  have  ideals  of  beauty 
that  far  transcend  possible  attainment  in  this  life. 
Why  should  we  be  endowed  with  capacities  to  con- 
struct ideals  of  the  beautiful  and  to  strive  after  their 
realization  if  it  be  impossible  in  this  life?  Do  they  not 
point  to  another  life  in  which  they  may  be  actualized? 
Such  an  answer  to  the  question  is  the  only  one  that 
will  satisfy  the  aesthetic  demands  of  human  nature. 
Then,  too,  the  beauty  of  the  soul  itself  is  such  that 
Plato  was  led  in  the  Timaeus  to  affirm  its  immortality 
on  the  ground  that  God  is  too  good  to  destroy  so 
beautiful  an  object.  Whatever  force  such  arguments 
may  have,  the  point  of  psychological  interest  is,  that 
belief  in  a  hereafter  has  some  of  its  roots  in  the 
aesthetic  nature  of  man. 

But  belief  in  life  after  death  is  also  the  outgrowth 
of  our  moral  nature.  Without  doubt  it  is  one  of  the 
prime  sources  of  this  belief.  No  one  can  thoughtfully 
read  the  preceding  chapters  of  this  volume  without 
being  impressed  by  the  fact  that  in  religion  itself  it  is 
the  moral  nature  that  is  one  of  the  main  sources  of 
belief  in  the  soul's  survival  of  death  and  of  the  con- 
ceptions and  beliefs  concerning  the  kind  of  life  that 
awaits  it.  In  some  religions  survival  is  a  demand  of 
justice.     They  insist  that  righteousness  and  well-being 


332        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

should  be  synthetic  and  likewise  wickedness  and  suf- 
fering. This  is  not  always  the  case  in  the  present  life, 
hence  there  must  be  a  life  after  death  in  which  right- 
eousness shall  have  its  due  and  unrighteousness  its 
deserts.  This  retributive  element  is  more  or  less  mani- 
fest, indeed,  in  all  of  the  great  religions.  In  some  of 
them,  however,  the  moral  nature  leads  to  demands  of 
a  higher  character.  It  is  conscious  of  the  supremacy 
of  moral  values  and  demands  the  conservation  of  them 
as  realized  in  personality.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  Christian  religion.  It  is  one  of  the  features  of 
Jesus'  teachings,  and  appears  over  and  over  again  in 
the  history  of  Christian  thought. 

Philosophy,  also,  reveals  the  fact  that  the  moral 
nature  is  a  prolific  source  of  belief  on  this  subject. 
The  retributive  element  is  quite  prominent  in  philo- 
sophical thought  on  the  future  life.  Plato,  many 
Church  Fathers  and  Schoolmen,  Clarke,  Butler,  Kant 
and  others  make  use  of  it.  They  argue  that  justice  de- 
mands a  future  life.  Virtue  must  have  its  due.  It 
does  not  always  secure  it  in  the  present  life.  The 
wicked,  on  the  other  hand,  spread  themselves  like  the 
bay  tree  and  often  flourish  because  of  their  wickedness ; 
whereas  the  righteous  often  suffer  because  of  their 
righteousness.  A  day  of  equity  must  dawn  beyond 
this  night  of  injustice.  It  is  the  demand  of  man's 
moral  nature. 

Closely  related  to  this  form  of  the  moral  argument 
is  another  aspect  of  it.  It  is  the  fact  of  the  incom- 
pleteness of  the  moral  life  here  as  compared  with  the 
moral  ideal.  This  ideal  in  the  form  of  a  highest  good 
man's  moral  nature  imposes  upon  him  as  something  to 
be  attained.  Its  realization  is,  of  course,  a  progressive 
matter.  But  conditions  are  such  that  he  cannot  realize 
it  in  this  life.     Virtue  implies  a  struggle,  and  however 


LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH  333 

earnest  and  sublime  the  struggle  may  be,  it  is  not 
possible  to  attain  this  summum  honum  in  life's  three 
score  years  and  ten.  To  impose  a  supreme  obligation 
on  man  without  the  possibility  of  its  realization  in- 
volves a  contradiction.  Kant  in  the  Critique  of  Prac- 
tical Reason  urged  this  argument  with  great  force.  A 
recent  writer  presents  the  argument  and  estimates  its 
value  in  these  words:  "  The  endeavour  after  a  full  and 
satisfying  good  must  have  a  significance  for  human 
life  as  a  whole.  For  it  is  from  no  arbitrary  caprice 
or  casual  desire  that  man  sets  out  on  this  quest  and 
engages  in  this  endeavour.  His  inner  nature  urges 
him  to  follow  the  upward  way;  and  if  he  turns  into 
the  downward  path,  his  conscience  rebukes  him  for 
being  false  to  his  vocation.  We  have  to  ask  ourselves 
the  question,  Is  man  by  the  spirit  in  him  led  to  enter 
on  a  quest  which  is  bound  to  be  vain  and  doomed  to 
end  in  defeat?  Is  the  vision  of  the  Good  only  a 
phantom  light  which  lures  the  pilgrim  into  the  morass  ? 
Is  the  goal  fondly  desired  only  a  dream  which  fades 
in  the  sober  light  of  waking  reason?  No  one  will 
come  to  an  affirmative  conclusion  gladly,  and  if  any 
one  does  so  conclude,  it  must  be  at  the  expense  of  ad- 
mitting that  there  is  somehow  a  contradiction  at  the 
heart  of  things.  For,  consider  what  the  conclusion 
means.  It  means  that  it  is  involved  in  the  nature  of 
man — and  so  in  the  constitution  of  the  universe  in 
which  man  comes  into  being — that  he  should  form 
and  strive  after  an  ideal  of  good,  and  that  it  is  equally 
involved  in  the  nature  of  things  that  this  endeavour 
is  destined  to  final  defeat.  The  situation  would  be 
analogous  to  that  where  an  individual  bestowed  a 
precious  gift,  and  at  the  same  time  took  measures  to 
render  the  possession  of  the  gift  ineffective.  We 
cannot  accept  such  an  inconsistency  in  the  constitution 


334        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

of  the  world  unless  we  are  compelled  to  do  so  by  a 
logic  which  admits  of  no  other  alternative.  Any 
reasonable  hypothesis  which  enables  us  to  overcome 
this  inconsistency,  has  a  serious  claim  to  be  consid- 
ered. 

"  From  this  point  of  view  we  can  see  that  the 
postulate  of  personal  immortality  is  no  mere  expression 
of  subjective  feelings.  It  is  not  the  pure  outcome  of 
a  personal  wish,  but  issues  from  the  need  of  harmoniz- 
ing the  facts  of  experience.  The  postulate  is  put  for- 
ward to  remove  a  real  difficulty:  it  is  a  demand  man 
makes  on  the  universe  in  order  that  his  moral  world 
may  be  .consistent  and  harmonious.  Apart  from  this 
postulate  the  life  of  moral  endeavour  is  destined  to 
remain  fragmentary  and  incomplete — nay  more,  the 
value  already  realized  in  the  ethical  life  is  doomed  to 
be  lost.  All  the  good  which  a  man  has  reaped  in  his 
own  soul  as  the  harvest  of  his  moral  endeavour  will  be 
annihilated  when  he  ceases  to  breathe,  and  his  career 
will  close  in  darkness  and  silence.  The  postulate  of 
immortality  conserves  the  value  already  gained,  and 
is  a  guarantee  that  the  endeavour  after  the  good  shall 
come  to  its  goal  and  fulfilment.  These  ends  are  not 
achieved  within  the  present  world-order,  where  the 
personal  life  is  fragmentary;  hence  the  postulate  of  a 
supramundane  or  transcendental  realm  in  which  the 
personal  life  is  continued  and  fulfilled.  This  postulate 
is  the  legitimate  claim  man  makes  on  the  universe,  and 
it  is  the  solution  of  an  urgent  problem."  "  To  the 
student  of  the  Psychology  of  Religion  this  moral  source 
of  belief  in  the  future  life  is  very  significant  for  his 
science,  while  it  furnishes  the  ground  for  one  of  the 
most  cogent  arguments  of  the  philosopher,  and  is  one 

"Galloway,    The   Idea   of   Immortality,   Edinburgh,    1919,   pp. 
167-169. 


LIFE  AFTER  DEATH  336 

of  the  strongest  guarantees  for  the  faith  of  the  dis- 
ciple of  religion. 

As  the  foregoing  chapters  prove,  belief  in  a  life 
hereafter  is  also  deeply  rooted  in  the  religious  nature. 
We  have  noted  this  in  preceding  paragraphs  in  dealing 
with  the  ethical  aspects  of  religion.  In  some  of  the 
higher  forms  of  religion  it  is  manifest  in  the  belief 
as  based  on  the  goodness  and  fatherly  love  of  God,  on 
the  soul's  love  and  desire  for  fellowship  with  God,  and 
on  a  lofty  conception  of  the  worth  of  human  person- 
ality— all  of  which  are  to  be  found,  for  example,  in 
the  Christian  religion.  Practically  co-eval  with  re- 
ligion, and  almost  co-extensive  with  it,  belief  in  life 
after  death  is  conspicuously  an  outgrowth  of  the  re- 
ligious nature  of  man.  The  psychologist  who  would 
adequately  determine  the  psychological  basis  of  the 
belief  must  inquire  carefully  into  this  source  of  its 
origin  in  human  nature.  The  previous  chapters  make 
this  statement  abundantly  evident. . 

It  is  clear,  then,  that  belief  in  life  after  death  has 
its  roots  in  the  entire  psychical  being  of  man.  It  is 
essentially  a  demand  of  the  human  spirit  as  rational, 
social,  sesthetic,  moral  and  religious.  The  soul  in  all 
of  these  forms  of  functioning  protests  against  death 
as  a  finality.  It  demands  life — higher,  fuller,  com- 
pleter, never-ending  life.  What  reason  demands  so 
powerfully  in  the  highest  form  of  its  development  as 
we  find  it  manifest  in  Philosophy;  what  the  social 
nature  ardently  longs  for  and  demands  in  its  noblest 
activity  in  the  forms  of  friendship  and  love ;  what  the 
aesthetic  nature  demands  in  its  most  refined  aspirations 
and  most  earnest  quest  of  the  beautiful;  what  the 
moral  nature  demands  in  its  sublimest  efforts  to  realize 
the  supreme  values ;  what  the  religious  nature  demands 
in  its  profpundest  love   for,  and  holiest  aspirations 


336       EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTUEE  LIFE 

after  fellowship  with,  the  Divine — the  Father  of  the 
human  spirit, — cannot  be  regarded  as  merely  subjec- 
tive. There  must  be  a  background  of  Reality  to  all 
of  this — an  objective  correlate  to  these  imperative  de- 
mands of  the  soul.  Human  nature  at  its  highest  and 
best  will  abide  no  other  conclusion.  It  must  be  so, 
"  else  why  these  yearnings  after  immortality,  these 
fond  desires ; "  these  soul-reachings  toward  a  far 
richer  and  completer  acquaintance  with,  and  realization 
of  the  True,  the  Beautiful  and  the  Good  than  this 
mortal  life  will  permit;  these  longings  after  a  more 
intimate  fellowship  wath  the  Father  of  our  spirits  in 
which  communion  we  "  shall  see  Him  as  He  is ''  ? 
The  grave  cannot  gain  a  victory  over  such  a  being. 
The  dust  cannot  be  its  goal.  These  earnest  demands 
of  the  human  spirit  indicate  its  divine  origin,  its  divine 
nature,  and  its  divine  destiny.  As  it  is  with  Truth, 
so  it  is  with  the  soul: 

"  The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers." 

A  brief  word  might  be  added  in  conclusion  as  to  the 
practical  significance  of  belief  in  life  hereafter.  It  un- 
doubtedly is  significant  for  human  character  and  con- 
duct. Whether  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  belief 
in  future  retribution  conditioned  on  our  present  life  or 
from  the  larger  and  nobler  point  of  view  of  the  con- 
servation of  all  that  has  real  worth  in  this  life  and  the 
attainment  of  a  more  complete  intellectual,  social, 
aesthetic,  moral  and  spiritual  development  hereafter, 
such  belief  does,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  tremendously 
afifect  character  and  behaviour.  There  are  some 
superior  souls,  like  the  late  George  Eliot,  who  find 
such  a  belief  unnecessary  for  the  support  of  the  moral 
life.  But  this  is  not  the  case  with  the  average  person. 
With  the  large  majority,  "  the  dread  of  something  after 


LIFE  AFTEE  DEATH  337 

death,"  and  the  hope  of  future  reward,  are  influential 
factors  in  human  conduct.  Such  motives  are  not,  in- 
deed, of  the  highest,  nor  is  the  conduct  they  impel  of 
the  noblest,  but  the  morality  thus  determined  is  im- 
measurably better  than  the  immorality  that  might  have 
been  had  it  not  been  thus  restrained.  However,  there 
are  many  whose  conceptions  of  virtue  and  of  her  im- 
mortality are  of  a  far  higher  order,  and  whose  char- 
acter and  conduct  as  influenced  by  these  conceptions  do 
great  honour  to  our  human  nature  and  contribute  much 
to  the  real  progress  of  the  race: 

"  Glory  of  warrior,  glory  of  orator,  glory  of  song, 

Paid  with  a  voice  flying  by  to  be  lost  on  an  endless 
sea — 
Glory   of   virtue,   to   fight,  to   struggle,   to   right  the 
wrong — 
Nay,  but  she  aim'd  not  at  glory,  no  lover  of  glory 
she: 
Give  her  the  glory  of  going  on,  and  still  to  be. 

"  The  wages  of  sin  is  death :  if  the  wages  of  Virtue  be 
dust, 
Would  she  have  heart  to  endure  for  the  life  of  the 
worm  and  the  fly  ? 
She  desires  no  isles  of  the  blest,  no  quiet  seats  of  the 
just, 
To  rest  in  a  golden  grove,  or  to  bask  in  a  summer  sky : 
Give  her  the  wages  of  going  on,  and  not  to  die." 

McDougall  undoubtedly  is  right  when  he  says: 
"Apart  from  any  hope  of  rewards  or  fear  of  punish- 
ment after  death,  the  belief  must  have,  it  seems  to  me, 
a  moralizing  influence  upon  our  thought  and  conduct 
that  we  can  ill  afford  to  dispense  with.  The  admirable 
Stoic  attitude  of  a  Marcus  Aurelius  or  a  Huxley  may 
sufiice  for  those  who  rise  to  it  in  the  moral  environ- 
ment created  by  civilizations  based  upon  a  belief  in  a 


338        EELIGION  AND  THE  FUTURE  LIFE 

future  life  and  upon  other  positive  religious  beliefs; 
but  I  gravely  doubt  whether  whole  nations  could  rise 
to  the  level  of  an  austere  morality,  or  even  maintain  a 
decent  working  standard  of  conduct,  after  losing  those 
beliefs.  A  proof  that  our  life  does  not  end  with  death, 
even  though  we  know  nothing  of  the  nature  of  the  life 
beyond  the  grave,  would  justify  the  belief  that  we  have 
our  share  in  a  larger  scheme  of  things  than  the  universe 
described  by  physical  science ;  and  this  conviction  must 
add  dignity,  seriousness,  and  significance  to  our  lives, 
and  must  throw  a  great  weight  Into  the  scale  against 
the  dangers  that  threaten  every  advanced  civiliza- 
tion." "  In  our  struggles  for  the  realization  of  the 
highest  worths  of  human  life  there  Is  something  en- 
couraging in  the  belief  that  we  are  striving  for  eternal 
values.  It  lends  dignity  to  the  struggle,  gives  impetus 
to  our  zeal,  and  enables  us  to  continue  the  battle  in  the 
darkest  hour, — even  amid  most  discouraging  circum- 
stances and  apparent  defeat.  The  historian  of  moral 
progress  would  have  a  far  different  story  to  tell  had 
man  throughout  his  history  been  wanting  in  this  belief. 
It  has  been  not  only  an  inspiring  and  sustaining  force, 
but  a  veritable  star  of  hope  leading  him  through  the 
long  conflict  between  good  and  evil. 

"Wm.  McDougall,  Body  and  Mind,  New  York,  igii,  Preface, 
pp.  xiii-xiv. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


Date  Due 


jIAn  ^    ^' 


Princeton  Theological  5eminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01145  3430 


